Bringing Home the Gold: Big Country TSTC students win gold at national competition

BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Texas State Technical College (TSTC) students from Abilene and Sweetwater brought home gold from the SkillsUSA Conference in Atlanta.

This national competition boasted thousands of students from hundreds of tech and trade schools across the country, and three TSTC students from right here in the Big Country were proven to be the best in their field by winning the gold medal. The fields that won the gold for TSTC were EET (Electrical Engineering Technology) and EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). Engineering Instructor and State Director of Alignment for Wind Energy Technology Russell Benson spoke about what this award meant for TSTC.

“Students walk away from here with a 99.9% hire rate. I couldn’t be more proud, and it just speaks volumes for what we do here at TSTC,” Benson said.

Hunter Spohn and David Aman, from the TSTC Abilene campus, participated in a team competition for the EMT category. Originally, Hunter and David had separate teammates for the competition, but their other teammates couldn’t attend the national competition due to circumstances beyond their control.

The stresses of competing in a team event are high enough with a well-practiced group, but the two only had one practice session together before the competition. Luckily, they found that their prior training with TSTC had prepared them to work together efficiently, and that training allowed the pair to take first place.

“We had a scenario where it was kind of a simulated 911 call that we had to run and take care of the patient and get them to the hospital, and then we had a couple of other skills that we did,” said Spohn.

The pair elaborated on how surprised they were when they learned they had won.

“It’s just amazing,” said Aman.

“My jaw dropped to the floor. We were not expecting it at all,” responded Spohn.

The competitor for the Sweetwater campus was Toby Styron. Styron is considered a nontraditional student because he returned to college in his 30s, but he says his drive at his advanced age is stronger than many of his contemporaries. Styron’s event was a high-stakes scenario challenge in which he assumed the role of a facility manager for a large entity.

“I was the facility manager of a 600-patient hospital. We were having construction done on one of the patient rooms on one of the random floors. A construction worker hit a sprinkler head. The sprinkler head was live. That’s pouring 280 gallons of water a minute. I had to give recommendations on what I would do in that scenario to solve the problem,” Styron explained.

While the merit of their accomplishments is not lost on the students, they say it’s less about their personal accolades and more about the example they set.

“He’s 19. I’m 70. So, nobody’s too late to learn,” Amin shared.

Styron shared the sentiment by saying, “I’m hoping that sets the standard for students that come behind me to want to go and get it. Get out there and get it.”

All three competitors were the first in the school’s history to win gold from this national competition for both the Abilene and Sweetwater campuses.

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