Members

Give Ryan Hernandez a block of metal, some instructions, scratchpaper, and a machine and you'd be surprised what he can do.Hernandez, a former Machine Tool Technology student atCowley,put himself in a unique position as a member of the 12-personInternational Youth Skills Competition team from the United States.That team competed July 4-7, 1997 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, alongwith 3 1other nations, in a biennial contest in skilled trade occupations.It was sponsored by the International Organization for the Promotion of Vocational Training, headquarteredin Zurich, Switzerland.Participation by the U.S. comes from the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. In 1973, then-PresidentRichard Nixon recognized VICA as the official organization to represent the U.S. at the IYSC. The U.S. firstcompeted in 1975."I'm doing this for experience," said Hernandez, who is now a numerical control mill operator and leadman at Boeing-Wichita. "I just want to do the best job I can. If anything, I'm not the one with the pressure.I have no background or reputation to hold up. There's no extra pressure other than competing internationally."Hernandez, from Arkansas City, has been nothing shy of brilliant during the past three years. He is a formerKansas VICA president and earned a number of awards during his career at Cowley.The road to Switzerland actually began two years ago when Hernandez won the state VICA skills contestin precision machining. He went to the national contest in July1995 and finished second in the post-secondarydivision.His scores there allowed him to try out for the international competition in September 1996 in Chicago.At that four-day international machine tool show, Hernandez competed on a conventional mill. In Octoberhe received a project in the mail. Competitors had two weeks to complete the project. Hernandez heardresults near the end of February."There were five students in the milling project and you could use any resource you could find,"Hernandez said. "I wanted to run the project on my own. I could have programmed it on a CAD/CAM, butI didn't. I manually programmed it."Hernandez scored 1,022 points out of a possible 1,150. The top score was 1,051 points. Hernandez' combinedscores from Chicago and the October project landed him a spot on the U.S. roster.Hernandez was the U.S. competitor in milling. Other trades contested were automotive service technology,auto body repair, brick masonry, car painting, computer aided drafting, cookery, electronic application,house wiring, ladies' hairdressing, refrigeration, and turning. Students must be under the age of 23 to compete.Hernandez is 22.The project Hernandez had two weeks to complete was made out of a block of aluminum. He said at theIYSC, competitors were given a block of steel. Work was done by a machine and a cutter. About 26 studentscompeted in milling. The contest lasted eight hours per day for the four days.Hernandez took several weeks off work from Boeing to train for the international competition. He saidthe company was impressed with the competition. And he's been the subject of a story on Boeing Television,broadcast to break rooms in all of Boeing's plants.Hernandez credits his experience at Cowley for providing him the basic background a machinist needs.He praised Precision Machining, Inc., of Wellington for teaching him many techniques in milling."It's a top-rated company," said Hernandez, who worked there while finishing his schooling at Cowley."It wasn't until I got to Boeing that I realized how good Precision Machining really is."After the contest, Hernandez plans to re-enroll at Cowley to work on a pre-engineering degree.In1995, the U.S. ranked 15th among nations competing. Austria, Korea, and Brazil were the top threenations that year. The U.S. has never had a milling student place in the competition.