FMHS Trades students among nation's best

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Finish 24th out of 50 without even touching plumbing segment of national competition

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The best building trades students in the country lined up in the West Wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center this week, and four Bloodhounds hammered it out with them for a couple days.

After two days of intense preparation, planning, construction, and even demolition, Fort Madison stands tall as the 24th best prep building trades team in the country, after representing Iowa in the SkillsUSA TeamWorks competition in Louisville.

The competition was part of the 6,400-student, 103-program contest held annually with a combined price tag, including donations and investments, of more than $36 million.

Fort Madison High School juniors Danen Settles and Parker Denning joined seniors Elton Kruse and AJ Nolting in the competition on the southwest side of Louisville. The contest went more than three days and included an oral presentation on how they would tackle the project, getting the tools and supplies for the project, construction and demolition.

TEAMWORKS - All four Fort Madison High School Bloodhounds competing at last week's SkillsUSA TeamWorks competition help install a kitchen exhaust fan as part of their construction project Thursday afternoon. From left to right on ladders, Elton Kruse and Danen Settles, while on the ground are AJ Nolting and Parker Denning. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

The project was to build a scaled back version of a kitchen/bath structure including wiring switches, outlets, lights, and two ventilation fans, plumbing both the rooms and framing the structure with a roofing panel over two overhangs. The project also required a brick facing about two feet high on the outside front corner and siding on the back side that included a window.

All of the contestants were provided the exact same clothing, tools, plans and drawings, supplies, and equipment so the contest was based on knowledge and teamwork alone and no advantages could be given to any one team.

FMHS Instructor and contest advisor Clint Kobelt said the four boys represented Fort Madison and the state of Iowa well, but the real win was in how they worked together over the three days.

"When you consider all four of these guys intend to go into the industry and their take away is we hold onto quality as opposed to quantity? Guys that can do that will write their own check in the long run," Kobelt said.

"If you end up 10th, end up 12th...if you win it all, or you end up last - the bigger victory has been won."

Kobelt, the building trades instructor at FMHS, said having to sit on the sidelines was a learning experience for him. In a similar sports event, players could call a timeout and get some coach time. Kobelt wasn't allowed to speak to the Bloodhounds at any point during the days' 7-hour sessions.

"It's nerve wracking to be honest with you. You spend three of four years with these guys - and they're not your students, they're your kids - you see them struggle and face adversity and your initial reaction is you just want to fix it," he said.

"But not being able to do that actually allows you to see that they don't need you to do that."

Finally, FMHS Building Trades instructor Clint Kobelt looks over the final work of the trades team's project Thursday afternoon. Kobelt examines the masonry work done by Elton Kruse, who's standing to Kobelt's left. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

The 24th place finish is even more telling in what the boys were able to accomplish because with 30 minutes left in finalizing the project, the Hounds slipped into clean up mode knowing that they hadn't touched the plumbing task associated with the competition.

Denning said that was actually part of the plan going forward. He said the discussion amongst the team prior to the competition was to do quality work and get points on their strengths and if there was time left, they all would jump in on the plumbing.

The group decided to not just throw something up that wasn't functional and suffer the quantity over making sure they got the other parts of the project right.

DENNING

"I think it came out pretty good," Denning said. "We just couldn't get to the plumbing. We focused more on getting everything done that we started, rather than go into something different and not get it done. We took our time and it was quality over quantity for sure," he said.

Kruse, who served as an adhoc foreman on the project, said he was very happy finishing in the top half. The senior actually said Thursday evening before the scores were announced Friday, that they would finish near the middle in the top 25.

"I was happy with our effort and we hit all our marks. We talked about leaving the plumbing to last because it was a maybe," he said.

"I think we're where we expected to be at the end of the day. Plumbing was a maybe and it didn't get done, but we did everything else the right way."

Kruse spent about five hours Thursday working on the masonry on the outside of the project, while Denning and Settles shored up the framing and started working on the back side, which was the only side that needed to be sided for judging. That side also included an 18x24" slide Pella window.

Nolting spent the seven hours working all the wiring from a main panel to three outlets, two switches, a range fan in the kitchen and ventilation fan in the bathroom. When Kruse finished the masonry, he moved Denning to the ventilation fan installation and he took over siding work with Settles.

Judges would move around the 50 projects in the vast hall measuring, checking for levelness, safety, and housekeeping. The students got two 10-minute breaks each day and a 30-minute lunch.

NOLTING

"Our expectations were we'd get close to finish with it and I'd say we met that goal," Nolting said "The only thing we didn't finish was plumbing and we don't really know much about plumbing. We did our best."

Nolting said he ran into a couple snags in the panel box on some things he hadn't seen, but he solved the problem by continuing to go back to the project drawings and rework the problems.

"Some things in the box I got a little confused with, but I kept going back to the prints and solved it. It was a goal of ours to get here. That's what we were aiming for and we were excited to be here and represent Iowa."

Settles said he enjoyed the competition. The junior all-state wrestler came with the group as an alternate when junior Brandon Reichelt, who was part of the team that won the state competition in April, had to back out for prior family plans.

SETTLES

"I enjoyed it. I came here knowing it was framing and electrical work and plumbing and we got most of that done. The metal studs that were part of the framing threw us for a little loop as we'd never dealt with that, but we figured it out in about five minutes."

Denning said the competition certainly had a national feel to it.

"You can tell this was a national competition for sure," he said. "A lot of this we've never done before... the trusses, the brick work, and the siding - we've never tackled anything like that before, so I think we did pretty good for all that."

Kruse said aside from the plumbing there was very little the crew didn't accomplish.

"It was cool to see where we stacked up against all these teams. We weren't sure if we'd finish dead last or what. I'd say in all honesty we're in the top 25 somewhere," he said Thursday after time expired on the build.

KRUSE

"We had some minor things with the framing and siding where we had to pull some nails but there really was nothing major. I had to shift to the siding after a little bit, but it all worked out."

Kruse has already accepted a position with Carl A. Nelson, Co. and Nolting will be attending Kirkwood Community College's Building Trades program. A representative from the college was on hand to watch some of the program's incoming students.

Kobelt said looking back at the competition, two things stand out to him.

"These boys had several opportunities presented where they could have surrendered to the pressure or tried to keep pace with their neighbor. But they set a course and they did exactly what they set out to do," he said.

"They knew plumbing would be their Achilles heal. They played to their strengths and did what they do very well. But more important to me is I think they thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

"You're gonna have a job. You're going to work somewhere but they figured out your job doesn't have to be work. You're on the biggest stage you're ever going to be on competing against the best in the nation for the first time ever. They never got so wrapped up in it that it became work. If you can do that at 17, 18 years old, you have just figured out to make the next 50 years of your life so much better."

From left to right, AJ Nolting, Elton Kruse, Clint Kobelt, Danen Settles, and Parker Denning. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC
Kruse, measures for a roofing overhang in the last hour of Thursday's competition. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC
The Bloodhounds hold a quick huddle about how the last two hours of the competition will go on Thursday afternoon during a 10-minute break. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC
Kruse, left, talks with Denning regarding some flashing that is being utilized around a window that is part of the design of the construction phase Thursday afternoon. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC
bloodhounds, building trades, Clint Kobelt, fmhs, Fort Madison High School, Kentucky, Louisville, Pen City Current, SkillsUSA National Competition, TeamWorks

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