OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Venango Technology Center’s Travis Crate took home first place in the SkillsUSA Welding Competition on January 8.

The competition required entrants to complete nine different welding jobs which consisted of various welding processes and positions.

Eleven other students participated in the competition.

Travis, a member of the AWS Oil Region Student Chapter at the Venango Technology Center, will travel to Hershey, Pa. in April to compete at state level.

Each year, students from local high school and post-secondary welding programs compete in SkillsUSA competitions. A series of local, district, and state-wide contests decide which two students will represent their state at the national level. Each participating state sends its high school and post-secondary champion to the national SkillsUSA Championships held in Louisville each June. Contestants participate in a timed competition designed to test their ability to use various welding tools and processes. These include weld-measuring gauges, oxy-fuel and plasma arc cutting processes, flux core arc welding, gas metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, and shielded metal arc welding. The SkillsUSA Championship awards a gold, silver, and bronze medal to the top three high-school participants and the top three post-secondary participants.