TTCN SkillsUSA Quiz Bowl Team Wins National Championship

TTCN SkillsUSA Quiz Bowl Team Wins National Championship

A team of students from the Tennessee Technology Center at Newbern competed in the Quiz Bowl competition at the SkillsUSA Championships. The team consisted of Wes Inman, Michael Gorzula, Ronnie Lowery, Carley Strawn, David King, and Rick Myers. The competition took place at the H. Roe Bartle Convention Center and Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 23. The team earned the right to compete when it won first place at the Tennessee SkillsUSA Championships this spring. The team was coached and accompanied by the SkillsUSA advisor Dottye Webb.

During competition, a quiz bowl team is challenged by both written and live rounds of competition in the areas of academic knowledge, professional development, and current events. Coach Dottye Webb explained that in order to have a successful team, each member must respect the diversity brought to the table by all members; furthermore, members must then learn to work together as a single unit.

Four team members--Carley Strawn, Michael Gorzula, Wes Inman, and Ronnie Lowery- also served as national voting delegates. At the organization’s business sessions, student delegates represented their state in electing their national officers, conducting the business of their organization, meeting with business and industry representatives, and hearing from government officials.

SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students in public high schools, career and technical centers and schools and two-year colleges. SkillsUSA has more than 300,000 student members annually, organized at more than 3600 chapters and in 54 state and territorial associations (including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands). Since 1965, SkillsUSA has served more than 10.4 million members.