CRESTON — Southwestern Community College collision repair/refinish student Sheldon Triggs of Mt. Ayr was named gold medalist in collision repair at the Iowa SkillsUSA 2012 competition in Ankeny on Fri., April 25, 2012. He is now headed to the national competition, which will be held during the National Leadership and Skills Conference, in Kansas City, MO, June 23-27, 2012.
Triggs, a freshman, is a May 2011 graduate of Mt. Ayr high school. He will receive his diploma in collision repair/refinish at the end of June and then plans to return to SWCC in the fall to earn his associate of applied science degree from SWCC’s collision repair program. Triggs is maintaining a 4.0 cumulative grade point average.
Each year, the community colleges of Iowa can enter one student in each of the two SkillsUSA contest categories. At nationals, the SWCC students will compete against champions from all 50 states. Jeff Magneson, SWCC’s collision repair/refinish instructor, is impressed with how SWCC’s students stack up against the competition.
“I am extremely proud of how our students perform each year at this competition,” Magneson stated. “This year Sheldon, who is just a freshman, was competing against a field of many second year students and still, he beat them all!”
Triggs is the son of Mark and Lynda Triggs of Mt. Ayr.
Southwestern is one of 11 community colleges in Iowa with an automotive collision repair program. SWCC’s collision repair/refinish program is one of two programs in Iowa to have the ASE (The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence)/NATEF (National Automotive Technician Education Foundation) certification and the only program in the state to have the I-CAR (Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair) Gold Class designation. SWCC's collision repair/refinish program is based on the I-CAR Enhanced Delivery curriculum and offers hands-on experiences in the classroom. Courses are taught by ASE-certified instructors who have platinum level I-CAR designations.