RATHDRUM – The clock was running during the SkillsUSA collision repair competition, but it wasn’t a traditional race.

Instead, high school students from Kootenai Technical Education Campus and North Idaho College had an hour to repaint or perform auto body repair work at a station during the SkillsUSA competition at the Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum. 

SkillsUSA judge Clarence Griffin came out of retirement as an instructor to help with the competition, saying the contest is a means to test students' knowledge and see how they hold up to time management similar to the expectations at an auto body shop.

“You’re timed in the real world," Griffin said. "You’re losing money if you don’t get it done."

In the auto body repair portion of the competition, students are expected to work the vehicle exterior to become straight and smooth prior to applying the filler. For the metal work, feather edging blends the metal and painted portions of auto body entries.

Andy Rogge, KTEC collision repair instructor, said 30 students competed to see who will move on to represent the two programs at the state division for SkillsUSA. Only nine KTEC and nine NIC students will compete in Boise.

Rogge said he hopes students will excel at the state competition and move on to the national SkillsUSA finals in Atlanta.

Some of the materials for the competition are donated and local body shops act as judges.

“It becomes an unofficial job fair because they get to see the students in action,” Rogge said. “They want to see students come out with a certain skill set.”

Coeur d’Alene High School student Taryn Costa said she could feel the gaze of the judges as she worked, but she felt confident about her work. She wound up coming in second place among the auto body repair winners for KTEC students.

“It’s awesome," Costa said. "It’s fun, but it’s definitely stressful because you want to do good."

She originally got into the KTEC program to try a vocational education track outside a traditional classroom and fell in love with refinishing work on cars. She plans on sticking with auto collision repair at NIC after she graduates.

Hayden resident Sydney Beamis followed a similar blueprint. He joined the NIC program after two years studying collision repair in high school. 

During the hour allotted to the competition, he didn’t have the easiest time maneuvering his equipment over his dent repair entry, but he still wound up securing second place in the college portion of the competition.

“I was fighting my stand the whole time,” Beamis said.

NIC refinishing winners

First place: Ethan Armstrong

Second place: Koby Garvin Carrasco

Third place: Jezariah Bicknell

NIC auto repair winners

First place: Jonathon Brunko, 

Second place: Sydney Beamis

Third place: Logan Forry

KTEC refinishing winners

First place: Emily Vig

Second place: Isabella Miller

Third place: Kamryn Wixom

For KTEC auto body repair winners

First place: Derron Traylor 

Second place: Taryn Costa

Third place: Austin Chatterton

    Logan Forry puts in some last-minute feather edging during the SkillsUSA competition Friday. Feather edging is the process of reducing the thickness of a surface such as a damaged or corroded area before applying a protective coat.
  

    Coeur d'Alene High School student Taryn Costa works on her SkillsUSA auto body entry. Costa's interest in painting vehicles drew her into learning about auto body repair.