SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) – Lincoln Land Community College’s workforce program is paving the way for people to enter the trades. The students from the newly established program are ready to compete in the state competition. Now in their second year, 47 students have qualified to compete in the Illinois SkillsUSA Competition.

Earlier in February, the school hosted a regional competition on campus where SkillsUSA brought in different manufacturers like John Deere and Caterpillar. To qualify, students completed hands-on projects such as electrical diagnostics, identifying different parts of trucks and writing assessments. Students with the highest scores were selected for the competition.

One of those lucky students is first-year diesel technology student William Stambaugh. He said the preparation for the competition is nerve-wracking yet exciting.

“Limited people can do diagnostics and you can mess something up easily, but getting taught how to do that kind of stuff properly is a huge relief,” Stambaugh said. “I hope the competition goes well. I would love to make it to the national competition, but I know this is a whole statewide thing and I know we’re obviously not going to be the only school there.”

The SkillsUSA competition is a hands-on competition where students showcase their technical skills, problem-solving skills and apply them to real-world scenarios. This includes fields such as culinary arts, automotive services, and more. 

The LLCC diesel equipment technology program focuses on repairing and operating heavy-duty machines. Throughout the first year, students receive hands-on training in fixing machines, wheel loaders, track loaders, and welding. 

This year, 21 students qualified from the diesel tech program alone. Professor of diesel equipment technologies Kody Letterle said the program is continuing to grow in both class size and competition size.

“We did have nine students who went in our first year, which was a big win. This year, we have 40 students. We’ve more than doubled that, so we’ve doubled our numbers that are participating and being only our second year,” Letterle said. “We’re competing against other schools that have been around for a very long time and they’re well-established, so for us to have that many students in this time frame, we’re very excited for this opportunity.”

Hosting the regional competition gave students experience on what to expect for this year’s state competition. Yet, they have spent months in intense preparation, sharpening their troubleshooting skills. The diesel technology team is now focused on performing their best at the competition with their eyes set on the national championship.

The competition is set to take place at the Capital Area Career Center in Peoria from April 24-26, and the qualifying team will advance to the national event in Atlanta, Georgia, in June.