MOSES LAKE — This isn’t exactly the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center’s first trip to the nationals.

“For 11 years straight we have placed at state competition, and eight of those years we’ve qualified for nationals,” said Terri Pixlee, who teaches video game programming at CBTECH. “We’ve been all over the country. We’ve been to Chicago, Utah, Georgia twice, Florida (and) Maryland and this will be our second time in California.”

Pixlee’s students Alex Meyer, Hailey Harper and Ethan Huntley competed in April at the Future Business Leaders of America game programming competition in Bellevue, she said. One team of three students took second place and will go on to nationals in Anaheim, California. Another team of two, Neri Hernandez and Jaden Salazar, placed seventh, not high enough to be assured of a berth but enough to be alternates in case some other Washington team doesn’t show. So far, that doesn’t seem likely, Pixlee said.

“It doesn’t happen very often, but it does happen,” she said.

In addition, Felix Neutzhorn and Zander Leasher from the CBTECH Fire Sciences and Roan Prentice from the Automotive program qualified for nationals at the SkillsUSA state competitions in Spokane in March. They’ll go to the national competition in Atlanta, Georgia in July.

Prentice took first place at the state competition, said instructor Lonny Steinmetz. He and teammate David Couture also won first place at the Top Tech Challenge in Yakima. CBTECH was the first school to take first at the Top Tech Challenge twice in a row, Steinmetz added.

Prentice came away from the competitions with more than just bragging rights, Steinmetz said.

“He won about $56,000 in scholarships along with some tools,” he said.

For the video game competition, the students divide themselves into teams of three, usually including an artist, a programmer and a level designer, Pixlee said. At least one of those students also needs some serious presentation chops, she said.

“It’s like ‘Shark Tank,’” she said. “They have to present their game and sell it as if they’re selling it to one of the gaming houses, so it’s really kind of important they have a speaker as well.”

The video game creators will be in Anaheim June 29-July 2, Pixlee said. They can’t afford a side trip to Disneyland, she said, but there are other things they can occupy their off-time with.

“There’s plenty of attractions they want to see,” she said. “Venice Beach, they want to, you know, things like that that don’t cost much. We’ll find a little arcade.”

The students going to Atlanta will be there June 23-27, said Fire Sciences teacher Lynn Dodd.

“It’s huge for these kids,” Dodd said. “The student we took last year had barely ever been out of town. It’s one of their first times getting to stay in a hotel, getting to go to these fancy restaurants, and then we were taking them on their first flights across the United States. And it’s like, this is cool that these kids get this opportunity to compete with the best students of the state. That we get to be a part of that is pretty awesome.”

    Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center student Roan Prentice, right, shown here with his teacher Lonny Steinmetz, will represent CBTECH at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta.
  

    From left: CBTECH student Roan Prentice, instructor Lonny Steinmetz and student David Couture at the Top Tech Challenge in Yakima. Prentice took first place and Couture took second.
  

    The team of Neri Hernandez, left, and Jaden Salazar scored seventh in the state video game programming competition, not high enough to assure a berth at nationals but enough to be an alternate.