SOUTH PORTLAND – With eyes on success in the machining field, high school level vocational students gathered at Southern Maine Community College on Feb. 14 to compete for the crown of best in precision machining.
Southern Maine Community College was host to the statewide precision machining tournament, part of the Skills USA State Competition in its precision machining lab, that began at 9 a.m. and continued throughout the morning. The Skills USA tournament is for high school level students who have are currently enrolled in their local vocational program studying precision machining.
This is the seventh year the tournament has been held at SMCC, hosted by John Bolduc, chairman of SMCC’s Precision Machining and Manufacturing program.
While the rest of the categories for the Skills USA competition, including welding, electrical and hospitality-focused programs, will be held in Bangor next month, the precision machining portion needs the extensive array of technology and machines offered in an actual machining lab, which can be found on the South Portland campus. While the winners of other categories will advance to the national level in St. Louis, Kentucky, the precision machining portion goes only as high as the state level, so the winner of the Feb. 14 competition, to be announced in March, will be the highest level winner of the state.
“We have one of the best precision machining programs in the state,” Bolduc said during the Feb. 14 tournament, beaming as he escorted guests on tours of the expansive facility. “We’re so proud to be able to do this.”
To participate in this state level competition, students competed with their peers in their individual programs first. Fourteen students qualified for the tournament, coming from precision machining programs in Dexter, Mexico, Portland, Rockland, Sanford and Waterville.
While the students worked diligently on the task at hand, a collection of teachers, parents and representatives from local machining businesses were on hand.
To win this statewide honor, participating contestants were given a prompt of a specific piece to complete during the course of the day. The students were given a solid piece of metal and given plans to manually create a machining piece to execute to the best of their ability, some completing a milling task and others using a lathe to create their piece. The students were given two 90-minute blocks to complete the piece with a 15 minute break in between, followed by an inspection of their pieces. The piece assigned is designed to be complicated enough that it cannot be completed in the time provided; the pieces are judged on precision, completeness and level of perfection at the end of the second session.
The winner of the precision machining competition will be announced next month at the Skills USA competition in Bangor.
Throughout the day, Bolduc offered on the spot admission to the SMCC Precision Machining and Manufacturing program to those who excelled in the competition. SMCC also waived the application fee for any graduating senior who participated in the competition and who wished to continue their post-secondary education at the school, offering a $500 scholarship to those who did.
“I get calls every day from businesses looking for machinists. All of us are retiring, and we need talented kids like these to carry the torch,” Bolduc said. “The job opportunities for a student graduating from our program are beyond their wildest dreams.”
Contact Staff Writer Abigail Worthing at news@inthecourier.com.
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