Jump to navigation Skip to Content
Press Release
By: Janine Wine
Communications and Marketing Coordinator
TCAT Dickson
Dickson, TN: TCAT Dickson is celebrating student success big after three of the college’s students brought home medals from the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held in Atlanta. Dixie DeLoach, Valaria Johannsen, and Jacob Rose all received bronze medals for executing their technical skills on the national stage.
DeLoach won individually in Cosmetology while Johannsen and Rose earned their hardware competing as a team in Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue – just two of the seventy-six skilled and technical science competitions offered. All three had earned gold medals at the SkillsUSA state competition which qualified them for the national event.
Johannsen said winning was a proud moment. “We were honored to be able to do that, honored to show our classmates they are able to do something like that, and honored to do that for Bryan (Johnson),” Johannsen said. Johnson is the Mechatronics Multicraft Tech instructor for both Johannsen and Rose.
SkillsUSA is noted for being the number one workforce development organization for students as well as a platform for students to showcase their technical skills and gain valuable leadership experience.
“We have experienced all of those things and have definitely grown in all three areas,” Rose said. He recalled being particularly nervous over the presentation portion of the robotics competition. He had made notes ahead of time that he misplaced minutes before presenting. While the duo was completing the technical presentation and sharing their notebook explaining the trial-and-error process of designing and re-designing their robot to their judges, they mentioned their wire management – concealing the electrical wires to make the robot function. “One of the judges stopped us during our presentation. The judge said our wire management was unrivaled by our competitors. That made us feel really good to have the judge stop us and tell us that. I was stressed out before the presentation, but it went very well,” Rose explained. Despite his misplaced notes teammate Johannsen said, “He killed it,” meaning Rose delivered the presentation well.
The pair made quite an impact on the judges who pulled them aside on the third day of the event to conduct a video interview. Johannsen had previously commented on the number of girls and women competing at the national level and she was asked to expand on that during the interview.
“I mentioned how proud I was to see so many girls and women, high school and college, there. Half of the competitors were female. That really made an impression on me, and I look forward to seeing more women in STEM focused careers,” Johannsen said.
While competing, Johannsen and Rose took part in five smaller challenges – each evaluating a different skill – before moving on to one larger challenge where they had to maneuver the robot through an obstacle course to locate two ordinances and dispose of them. “The smaller challenges were in place to make sure you could compete in the larger challenge,” Johannsen explained.
During the creation of their robot, Rose and Johannsen drew inspiration from watching PITSCO, Inc. videos and they spoke to one of the company’s engineers prior to the competition. PITSCO was one of many vendors represented at the competition. As a result of their previous communications, the pair were featured on the PITSCO blog while attending the conference. PITSCO asked for copies of the notebook Johannsen and Rose used in the presentation portion of their competition.
DeLoach completed six different challenges during her competition including woman’s haircut, men’s haircut, uniform ninety-degree haircut, color, updo, and questionnaire where she provided verbal answers to ten questions.
“I looked at the technical standards for competition and practiced everything on that list. I practiced everyday – religiously for three straight months,” DeLoach said, adding, “They know all of us want to be creative, but they wanted to see if we could follow the instructions to achieve.”
Cosmetology contestants were provided with photographs of haircuts and given manikins to replicate the haircut pictured. “The haircutting was my favorite part. It just comes naturally to me. Replicating what you see is fun,” DeLoach explained. She had forty-five minutes to replicate the cuts in the photos.
For the color portion of the competition, contestants were required to bring their own hair color products but were issued manikins at the contest to complete that challenge. “The hair color and updo had to work together. You used the same manikin you colored to create the updo,” DeLoach explained.
DeLoach said the best part of competing at SkillsUSA Nationals for her was networking and meeting other creative minded and goal-oriented individuals like herself. “I just feel it’s great to set your mind on a goal and achieve it. I wanted to place at that competition, and I did that. It was a full circle moment for me. I met all the top people who are going to be in the industry.”
DeLoach also met two-time Olympian Sharon Couch, who served as a SkillsUSA advisor to students from Pellissippi State Community College. “We had a chance to talk. They all called her Coach Couch. She told me you can’t let one day determine your whole life. You show up and do your best. It’s what you put into it,” DeLoach explained. “She totally changed my way of thinking. During the whole competition I kept saying to myself, ‘What can I put into this.’ Networking is by far the greatest takeaway. She totally changed my perspective on competing,” DeLoach shared.
“I think it (the competition) will help me pass my licensing test. Everyone gets nervous about having people watch you while taking your test. But I have done that. I know what it’s like to work under pressure. This experience definitely helped me with my time management,” DeLoach said.
Johannsen and Rose, both from Dickson, will have another opportunity to compete in the SkillsUSA State competition before graduating from the Mechatronics Multicraft Tech program but will choose a different event. “We want to encourage our classmates to participate next year,” Johannsen said. “Everyone in our class could literally compete in a different category if they wanted to,” Rose added.
DeLoach, from Hickman County, will graduate with her diploma before the next competition cycle, but she is hoping to encourage students just beginning the program to participate. “I have already told them if you get the opportunity - go. It makes you feel really good about yourself to do something on your own that’s scary and hard – especially if you place,” DeLoach said.
As a result of winning gold at the state level, Johannsen was offered a full-time Controls Technician position at Nemak USA Inc., an automotive parts manufacturer located in Dickson, and she accepted. As of June, she transitioned to a part-time student to allow full-time employment. Rose was offered a cooperative position at the same company but declined, choosing to maintain his focus as a full-time student at TCAT Dickson’s Advanced Manufacturing Campus.
DeLoach has been offered a position as a receptionist (she has not passed her Tennessee state licensure exam) at Uncle Classic Barbershop in Nashville. “I want to work in a bigger city for sure. If not Nashville, maybe Chattanooga. After I do hair for a year and get the feel for the industry I want to go back to school. I am more of an artist than a hairdresser. I started in Cosmetology so I could have a way to earn money for art school. I like hair but I am doing this to get money to pursue my passion,” DeLoach said.
TCAT Dickson offers seventeen programs of study and has locations in Dickson, Clarksville, and Williamson County and services eight Middle Tennessee counties including Dickson, Montgomery, Cheatham, Hickman, Houston, Humphreys, Stewart, and Williamson along with neighboring communities and residents of Kentucky. For more information on TCAT Dickson’s programs please visit TCATDickson.edu or call 615-441-6220.
TCAT Dickson is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education, and complies with non-discrimination laws: Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and ADA. Located on Highway 46 in Dickson, the technical training college also has extension campuses in Clarksville, and Franklin. Additional information about the school is located at www.TCATDickson.edu
TCAT Dickson Mechatronics Multicraft Tech students Valaria Johannsen (left) and Jacob Rose earned bronze medals competing as a team at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held recently in Atlanta. They are pictured with the robot they designed for the Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue competition.
TCAT Dickson Cosmetology student Dixie DeLoach brought home the bronze medal in Cosmetology at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. DeLoach is pictured here with the manikin she used in the hair color and updo portions of the competition. DeLoach also had to complete three haircuts and answer ten skills questions during her event.
TCAT Dickson students Jacob Rose and Valaria Johannsen maneuvered their robot through one of the challenges they had to complete during the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. The duo earned bronze medals in the Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue competition.
Dixie DeLoach, a Cosmetology student at TCAT Dickson, shows off the man’s haircut she completed as part of the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference competition in Atlanta. DeLoach completed a total of six challenges during the competition and earned the bronze medal for her efforts.
