Jeff Washburn of Mesa, Arizona and James Karr of Hudson, Wisconsin were announced as gold medalists in Precision Machining Technology Friday, June 23 at the 2006 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. Mr. Washburn, a student at the East Valley Institute of Technology won the secondary competition.  Mr. Karr, a student at St. Paul College, was the post-secondary winner.

Working against the clock and each other, the contestants competed in the NIMS Level I and II machining skills and knowledge areas including the operation of manual milling machines, drill presses, lathes and surface grinders as well as CNC programming.  Related knowledge and skill in the area of engineering drawing interpretation, GD&T,  technical math, machining practices, use of precision measuring tools and the ability to communicate using proper industry terminology was also evaluated.

Silver medalists were Alex Morena, South Shore Vo-Tech High School, Massachusetts and Craig J. Wade, Southern Maine Community College in secondary and post secondary, respectively.

Jon Burby, Saint Clair TEC, Marysville, Ohio won the bronze medal in the secondary competition and Robert T. Gibbs of Southeast Community College, Nebraska won third pace honor among the post-secondary contestants.

A total of 64 contestants – all gold medalists in their state level competition- participated in the two day precision machining technology competition.

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