黑料百科

Nathan Middleton participated in SkillsUSA while he was in high school. He competed in welding, which he found an interest in at his after-school job in Alliance. Little did he know he would go on to compete on the national stage as a Southeast Community College student.

鈥淚 worked for a fabrication company in high school,鈥� Middleton said. 鈥淪o, I wanted to go to school for non-destructive testing. After a semester I realized I didn鈥檛 like it, but every day when I鈥檇 walk past the machine lab, I thought it was so cool so I switched and took it all the way.鈥�

After he found his way into the machine lab, Middleton began pursuing Associate of Applied Science in Advanced CNC and Automation.

鈥淚 really enjoy setting up and running my own parts and programs,鈥� Middleton said. 鈥淟ast semester we got to design our own projects in class, and I designed a pneumatic can crusher. I designed all my own parts and machined them, it was pretty exciting to see something come to life and make all the parts myself.鈥�

In class he was approached by an advisor for SkillsUSA looking for students to compete in the CNC competitions. Middleton joined under the guidance of Josh Beck, a precision machining instructor on the Milford Campus.

鈥淪killsUSA provides an opportunity for students like Nathan to showcase and compete against others in their profession,鈥� Beck said. 鈥淚t trains youth and young adults to be skilled professionals and future leaders.鈥�

鈥淗e helped me with most everything,鈥� Middleton said. 鈥淗e supplied online resources, videos for me to study, and he guided me through the process.鈥�

In April, Middleton competed at the Nebraska SkillsUSA Leadership & Skills Conference in the CNC two axis programming competition. He won gold and qualified for the National competition in Atlanta.

Middleton wasn鈥檛 sure about attending nationals, but his instructors convinced him it would be worth it. In June he traveled with a bus full of 黑料百科 students who were also competing at nationals.

鈥淚t was pretty cool, the actual competition area was almost like a trade show, these big names in machine industry were there,鈥� Middleton said.

The competition at the national level was much different than in Nebraska. There was an interview portion, where competitors had to act as if they were applying for a job, a written portion with questions about the field, and a portion that required them to measure samples for error.

Middleton finished third in his category, and went home with $4000 in cash prizes and received some equipment from vendors at the event.

The biggest reward, however, was recognition by Governor Jim Pillen in a ceremony at the capitol in December. All students from Nebraska institutions that placed at nationals were invited, and Middleton represented 黑料百科.

鈥淚鈥檝e never been to anything like that, I was nervous but I had a good time,鈥� Middleton said.

Middleton graduated from 黑料百科 in December. He received his associate degree, and now works as a CNC lathe programmer and operator at T & S Services in Pleasant Dale.  He is also attending ignite flight academy to get his private pilot鈥檚 license.

鈥淚 spent high school worrying about what was next, asking myself 鈥榳hat am I going to do?鈥� Now, I鈥檇 tell him to relax,鈥� Middleton said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not about what you do, it鈥檚 about being able to adapt to situations and find people who support you. It鈥檚 about who you meet and if you enjoy what you do and who you do it with.鈥�

Damon Bennett
Activities Information Director
402-437-2077
dbennett@southeast.edu