PIAG Names SkillsUSA Georgia Winners

(Atlanta, Ga., March 18, 2010) – The Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) has announced the winners in the Georgia SkillsUSA graphic communications and advertising design competitions held at Heidelberg USA’s Print Media Demonstration Center in Kennesaw, Ga. Through a grant from PIAG’s Educational Foundation, the first place contestants and their advisors will travel to Kansas City in June to compete in the national SkillsUSA competition. In addition, the Foundation awarded scholarships to the winners totaling $4,500.

Winners in the graphic communications competition include: first place: Christina Hillman, Effingham High School, Springfield, Ga.; second place: Eriko Smith, Bradwell Institute, Hinesville, Ga.; and third place: Jason Cagle, Walton High School, Marietta, Ga.

Winners in the advertising design competition include: first place: Karina Scholtens, Central Education Center, Newnan, Ga.; second place: Yea Jee Bae, Dalton High School; and third place: Julia Tillery, Effingham High School, Springfield, Ga.

All students competed in a job interview and written skills assessment. The advertising design competitors were given three hours to compose a logo and packaging for a fictitious new lunchbox. AIGA, the professional design association, judged the entries. The graphic communications category consisted of five competencies: pre-press work, offset press, finishing, a written exam and job interview. Winners received above average scores in all five categories. Video of the competition can be found at www.youtube.com/PIAGGeorgia.

“Heidelberg USA is honored to once again host the Georgia SkillsUSA graphic communications and advertising design competitions,” said Susan Nofi, senior vice president, Human Resources at Heidelberg USA. “The level of talent exhibited during this competition is truly astonishing. It’s great to see these high school students demonstrate such a strong interest in a graphic arts career. I certainly hope they pursue their career goals into their higher education and the workforce.”

“Finding and keeping skilled management, production, technical and sales employees is a major issue facing printers today,” said Bill Garvey, division manager at Athens Paper and chairman of the PIAG Educational Foundation, sponsors of the contest. “Participation in SkillsUSA is a win for everyone. Students get valuable job training and industry ensures a skilled pipeline of future talent.”
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About SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA (www.skillsusa.org) is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. The organization serves more than 280,000 students and instructors annually and has 13,000 school chapters in 54 state and territorial associations. More than 14,500 instructors and administrators are professional members of SkillsUSA.

About The Printing & Imaging Association Educational Foundation
The PIAG Educational Foundation (www.piag.org/education) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1985 as the educational and charitable arm of the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia. The Foundation provides educational opportunities to industry professionals, career awareness programs for students and instructors and scholarship opportunities. The Foundation also promotes the printing and imaging profession within the state to future industry leaders and potential customers.

Transportation for SkillsUSA

Congratulations to all the SkillsUSA regional winners in Georgia. We're excited to see you at the state competition!

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Each year, PIAG sponsors the Georgia statewide SkillsUSA competition for Advertising Design and Graphic Communications. We also sponsor a full day of training for contestants the day before the competition. Since our contest and training is held off site at Heidelberg USA in Kennesaw, PIAG also provides transportation for contestants. Below is an timeline for transportation to the 2010 Statewide SkillsUSA graphic communication and advertising design training day and competition.


Thursday, March 11 (Training Day)
9:00 am - Bus picks up from the Airport Marriott for transportation to Heidelberg
10:00 am - Program starts at Heidelberg
2:30 pm - Bus picks up ad design students at Heidelberg
3:15 pm - Expected arrival of ad design students at Airport Marriott
4:00 pm - Bus picks up graphic communications students at Heidelberg
5:00 pm - Expected arrival of graphic communications students at the Airport Marriott

Friday, March 12 (Competition)
8:30 am - Bus picks up from the Airport Marriott for transportation to Heidelberg
9:30 am - Competition begins at Heidelberg
3:30 pm - Bus picks up students at Heidelberg
4:30 pm - Expected arrival of students at the Airport Marriott

Dalton Sophomore Takes Bronze in National SkillsUSA Competition

(Atlanta, Ga., July 8, 2009) – Yea Jee Bae, a rising junior at Dalton High School in Dalton, GA, placed third in the National SkillsUSA Advertising Design Championship, held June 21-26 in Kansas City, MO. The gold medal went to Victoria Brown, Del Sol High School, Las Vegas, NV and the silver went to Pedro Miramontes from Pocatello High School, Pocatello, ID. The competition was part of the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference where more than 5,400 outstanding career and technical education students joined in the excitement of hands-on competition in 91 different trade, technical, and leadership fields.

Contestants earned the opportunity to compete at the national event by placing first in regional, and then state, competitions. In addition to family and friends, Bae had members of the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) and AIGA, the professional association of designers, cheering for her. PIAG’s Educational Foundation hosted the state competition in April at the Print Media Demonstration Center at Heidelberg USA in Kennesaw. PIAG also provided a travel scholarship for Bea and her advisor, Nancy Hallsworth, to attend the National Competition. AIGA provided a scholarship to Bae for continued study.

“I had never been to the National competition,” said Nancy Hallsworth, a graphics instructor and Bae’s advisor at Dalton High School. “I did not truly grasp the magnitude of the Skills organization until now. It is amazing.”

SkillsUSA is a national organization for students in trade, industrial, technical and health occupations education. It sponsors the SkillsUSA Championships annually to recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupations. The contests are planned by technical committees made up of representatives of labor and management and are designed to test the skills needed for a successful entry-level performance in given occupational fields.

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About SkillsUSA SkillsUSA (www.skillsusa.org) is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. The organization serves more than 280,000 students and instructors annually and has 13,000 school chapters in 54 state and territorial associations. More than 14,500 instructors and administrators are professional members of SkillsUSA.

About The Printing & Imaging Association Educational Foundation
The PIAG Educational Foundation (www.piag.org/education) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1985 as the educational and charitable arm of the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia. The Foundation provides educational opportunities to industry professionals, career awareness programs for students and instructors and scholarship opportunities. The Foundation also promotes the printing and imaging profession within the state to future industry leaders and potential customers.

A Few Words from the Advertising Design Judges

Well, I ran out of memory at the end, but I think you get the idea.

Georgia's Ailion Competes for WorldSkills Team

For the first time ever a student from the U.S. will compete in the WorldSkills offset printing competition to be held September 1-7, 2009, in Calgary, Canada. Amela Mujkic, a senior at Ferris State University, was recently selected from among three competitors, at the qualifying competition held at Heidelberg USA's Print Media Academy, Buffalo Grove, IL. Alyssa Ailion (pictured left), who won Georgia's SkillsUSA competition last year and placed second at the national event, was one of the three contenders.

Financial and in-kind support from the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF), Heidelberg USA, the Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG), and the Printing Industries of Michigan (PIM) have made participation in this event possible.

“I extend a big thank you to all who have helped make this dream of sending a SkillsUSA competitor to Calgary a reality. A partnership such as this—with students, teachers and industry working together—is key to America's skilled workforce for the future,” comments SkillsUSA Executive Director Tim Lawrence.

GAERF President Ralph Nappi added, “I was encouraged by the quality of the competitors and feel confident that we will be sending our best to WorldSkills in September. Those involved in planning and preparing for this event should be commended on their extraordinary efforts to make U.S. participation in this offset printing competition possible.” Michael Fleming, Ferris State University, and Allyssa Ailion, Georgia State University, were the other contenders.

About WorldSkills
The International Vocational Training Organization, headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, sponsors the biennial WorldSkills Competition (WSC). This year the event will take place in Calgary, Canada, from September 1-7, 2009, hosting over 1,000 competitors from 51 countries. WorldSkills is the pinnacle of excellence in skilled trades and technologies training.

About SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. SkillsUSA helps high school and college students enrolled in career and technical education programs to excel by teaching employability skills such as communication, problem solving and leadership in conjunction with their trade, technical and service occupations skills. The association's annual membership exceeds 300,000 students and instructors in more than 4,000 schools and colleges in every state, three territories and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit: www.skillsusa.org.

Transportation for SkillsUSA

For all those participating in SkillsUSA, PIAG has some space available for advisors to ride the bus to and from Heidelberg for the Thursday training and the Friday competition. If you are an ad

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visor and would like to ride the bus with your contestant from the Airport Marriott to Heidelberg and back, please email srodman@soukmc.com. Note: We can only accomodate contestants and advisors at Heidelberg. We cannot allow students who are not affiliated with the graphic communication or advertising design competitions to attend the training session or the competition.

How to Make a PDF Training Video

Paul Davis, the SkillsUSA pre-press judge, is experimenting with training videos to assist students in learning pre-press. He has posted a test training video on how to create a PDF that is located on Graph Com Net. He is in the process of creating additional training videos, so register for Graph Com Net (it's free) and check back often to the Georgia Graphic Design Teachers Group.

Hands On Training for All Skills State Competitors

PIAG has put together a full day of hands on training for contestants in the Advertising Design and Graphic Communications SkillsUSA Georgia competitions. Industry experts will work with

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students to hone their skills, answer questions and give them an opportunity to prepare for the competition the next day. This training is only open to Advertising Design and Graphic Communications SkillsUSA contestants. If you are a contestant, or have a student that is competing, contact Sue at srodman@piag.org to reserve your spot for the training.

Go to the PIAG website for a complete schedule.

Training Resouces Abound

The PIAG website is the central place for all information on the SkillsUSA statewide grap

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hic communications and advertising design competitions. Even if you aren't sending students to state, take a look at the training resources available for both graphic communications and advertising design. There is a wealth of information for anyone interested in graphic communications. This site has been compiled with the input of numerous industry professionals and showcases the skills students need to know for a successful career in print. Some highlights include:

• Link to a free trial copy of CS4, the official software of SkillsUSA Georgia
• Link to training tutorials on CS3 and CS4
• Samples of past exams for both state and nationals

Check out the other resources available on PIAG's website and let us know what you find most valuable.

2008 SkillsUSA National Tests

If you are planning to participate in the 2009 SkillsUSA graphic communications competition, you'll want to take a look at the 2008 SkillsUSA National competition. This link is a 28 page PDF document and is a great study guide for the 2009 events. Bookmark the link above. The national technical committee for graphic communications is maintaining this blog and will post information on the national contest. We'll try to keep you posted here as well.

SkillsUSA Georgia Coming Soon

PIAG is planning for the 2009 SkillsUSA Georgia competitions. We hope to have the maximum entries in the graphic communications and advertising design competitions. If you are planning a regional competition and would like sample tests, please email me at srodman@piag.org.

The Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia (PIAG) is sponsoring the statewide competitions at the United States headquarters of global print manufacturer Heidelberg USA on April 17. In addition, we are hosting a full day training session with industry professionals for the student competitors to prepare for the competition. PIAG hosted this same program last year and our state graphic communications winner placed second in the national competition and has been invited to compete for a spot on the WorldSkills team!

As sponsors of the SkillsUSA Georgia statewide graphic communications and advertising design competitions, PIAG has assembled more than 25 industry professionals to assist in creating, administering, training and judging these competitions. In addition, we have partnered with AIGA, the professional design association to offer specific expertise in advertising design. Students are given intensive training prior to the competition on the latest equipment used within the industry today and access to professionals working daily on the equipment. After the competition, all contestants are given extensive feedback on their performance with specific suggestions for improvement.

PIAG is also offering assistance to teachers in preparing their students for the competition. On PIAG’s website under the About the Foundation section there are resources and information on the SkillsUSA competition including the equipment used, training videos on the equipment, copies of old contests for review, and a link to Graph Comm Net, a social network for industry and academia on educational issues including SkillsUSA.

Finally, The Trustees of the Printing and Imaging Association of Georgia Foundation have committed to offer scholarships to the winners of the statewide graphic communications and advertising design competitions. In addition, the Foundation will sponsor the winner and their advisor to attend the National SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City, MO.

Georgia teachers and students, we hope to see you in Atlanta on April 17. For industry, we'd love for you to participate in this great event. We are looking for sponsorships, prizes, gift bag donations and your expertise. Contact me at srodman@piag.org if you'd like to get involved in this great event.

SkillsUSA Information

SkillsUSA Statewide Competition Friday, April 17
The 2009 SkillsUSA graphic communication and advertising design competitions will again be held at Heidelberg USA in Kennesaw. PIAG is sponsoring the statewide competition and is working hard to put together a great contest, as well as training materials to assist teachers and contestants to prepare.Visit PIAG's website for updated information on contest particulars, logistics, transporatation and training materials.

Contestant Onsite Training Thursday, April 16
We'll again offer contestants an opportunity to train on the equipment they'll use during the contest. In addition, PIAG is working with industry professionals to put together additional training materials such as the Heidelberg PrintMaster Training video. General training resources can be found on The Mentor.

Demo Tour Thursday, April 16
We're working on another exciting demonstration facility tour and have already signed up Heidelberg and Hewlett Packard as stops on the tour. If you are interested in bringing a select group of students on the demonstration tour, please contact suer@piag.org. We'll have limited spaces and you must be pre-registered to attend.

Online PrintED Notebook, Upcoming Training

If you are considering PrintED accreditation, you are no doubt wondering, what does a PrintED notebook look like? Well, Paul Foster, a former teacher at Soller Point High School in MD, has put his PrintED notebook online for all to view. Check it out here.

Still a little unsure? Mark your calendar for Jan. 5 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. and join us at PIAG Headquarters for a FREE Teacher Training session with Paul Davis, former graphic arts instructor at DeKalb Tech. Paul has put together curriculum, labs, tests and resources to assist graphic communications teachers with their day-to-day instruction. In addition, many of these resources will assist those working toward PrintED certification.

Discussion covers safety procedures (including much of the information needed for the safety portion of PrintED on a take home CD) and competencies related to introduction to the graphic arts such as type, math, color and print knowledge. Bring a laptop and Paul will also touch on InDesign and give participants materials to take home that tie-in to the upcoming SkillsUSA competition.

To reserve your spot, please email Sue Rodman at suer@piag.org. There is no charge for the session and free parking is available onsite. Lunch is on your own with several fast food and fast casual restaurants within a mile of the facility. Upon completion of the program, we will post as much of the material as possible to the Graphic Communications Network, Georgia Instructors discussion group.

Alyssa Invited to Compete for spot at World Skills

Alyssa Ailion, the Georgia SkillsUSA winner and National SkillsUSA second place winner in graphic communications was tapped earlier this week to compete for a chance to represent the US at the WorldSkills competition in Calgary, Canada next year. PIAG is currently working with Alyssa, her former advisor Dan Campagna and representatives from Heidelberg to find a print shop that is willing to hire Alyssa and give her experience on the SpeedMaster 52, the press used at the World competition. We'll keep you posted on Alyssa's progress. If you know anyone in the NE Atlanta area that would like to assist with training, please let me know.

AIGA to Develop and Judge Graphic Design

Since it's been a while, I wanted to let everyone know that PIAG has started planning for the 2009 SkillsUSA competition. AIGA, the professional designers association will again assist us in putting together and judging the Advertising Design competition. We are working with AIGA to determine the elements of the competition and training resources to assist teachers and students in preparing. Look for more information on the 2009 competition soon. As always, if you have suggestions, comments or ideas, please let us know.

Printulation - A Virtual Print Shop in Second Life

Image via Wikipedia Brian Regan with Semper International is spearheading an interesting endeavor for the printing industry. He is creating a virtual print shop called Printalution in Second Life, a virtual world. For those of you that haven't heard of Second Life, it's like a video or computer game where you create your own enviornment, similar to Sims or the popular Tycoon (lemonade/zoo) games.

Printulation is in the process of being built out right now, but once it's done, guests can take a tour of the shop, stopping at each department to find out what careers are available in that department, what those people do, what education and experience they need and how much they can expect to make. Touring is nice, but wouldn't it be better if you could actually work on the equipment? Well eventually you can! Once this is feature is built, visitors can run the Heidelberg QuickMaster QM46 or the Indigo digital press. Technical training sessions on the equipment students will use in the real world SkillsUSA competition can be held in virtual classrooms. Heck we can even host a virtual SkillsUSA competition prior to the real event as training and include a virtual trade show just for the printing industry.

The equipment will not be working equipment at this first stage. That will require more investment. The first stage will mainly be an area to explain about each piece and how they operate, as well as linking to web supported information and videos.

This is an exciting project that has a lot of potential, especially for SkillsUSA. If you would like to be involved in this project or just follow along, Brian has created a social networking site (ning) at http://printalution.ning.com/ to support the Second Life project.

Right now Brian needs help finishing off the tour rooms. Each room is a part of the print process and there is a lot of the equipment built and located on the island. Brian just needs the detailed touches that make it special. The Design room needs help, pre-media and mailing. Basically each room needs some attention and while Brian can build and do anything in Second Life he lacks the expertise to add the details. So if you can help, email Brain at bregan@semperllc.com.

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National SkillsUSA Blog

Image via Wikipedia Jesus Rodriguez is one of the drivers of the SkillsUSA National graphic communications competition. He's started the blog below to assist teachers in perparing for the national event.

About Jesus: Been teaching 30+ years, very interested in the future of the young people I come in contact with, former Kiwanian, involved in graphic arts associations.

This BLOG is for you!!!
http://skillsusaforgraphiccommunications.blogspot.com/Check it out, I have four postings in the last two weeks. Let me know what you think and let me know what you would like to have included in this blog over the coming months.Email me at jrod2012@sbcglobal.netHave a great summer and a very successful school year 2008-2009.Jesus
Jesus J. Rodriguez

Nationals! from the advisor perspective....

As I look back at the week at Kansas City for the SkillsUSA National Competition I can without a doubt say it was one of the most powerful experiences I have had as an educator and one that was most impactful to me personally and also for my students.

Alyssa Ailion was competing in the Graphic Communications competition and Olivia Goodall was competing in Screen Printing Technology both representing Georgia. The girls have worked very hard in preparing for the competition and will be a memory that I am sure they will never forget.

It was truly overwhelming how much industry support was represented at the convention center and all over the downtown streets as several were blocked off for the event. Lowes, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, Stanley, just to name a few of the more prominent ones and hundreds of others I have no idea the cost, but this was a multi-million event to orchestrate. Over 90 competitions, most held in one gigantic center that seemed to spread for several city blocks all under one roof. It is a site that would make anyone's jaw drop.

We not only came to compete, but were able to network with others from around the country and share ideas as students met with each other from around the country as well. We were able to tour a little as I got to go on a tour of the Kansas Speedway and also participate in the Champions Run, a 5K race that helped me do a little exercise while being out of town. We got to go to an amusement park, a teen festival and just had a great time.

The Graphic Communications competition as well as the Screen Printing competition were both run extremely smoothly, very professional, top notch equipment, supplies, tools, etc. It was without a doubt a site to see. For Graphics computers were setup up, 6 Heidelberg Quickmasters, cutter, 2 folders were set up for the contestants to use. Screen Printing as well had pretty much a full "lab" 2 presses, exposure units, washout booth, scoop coaters, etc. etc.

I am so proud of Alyssa and the work ethic that she has is truly commendable. The hours she put in after school during the month of June (as she mentions in her blog) paid off as she took 2nd in the nation. She and the 1st place winner were 7 points apart (out of 1000), the 3rd place winner was around 75 points away. It was a very challenging competition. Not a bad way to end your high school career.

I was also proud of Olivia who took 10th in the nation in Screen Printing. It was a very intense competition as well. I hope to make the trip out here next year as well.

Every Technology educator needs to experience an opportunity to participate in SkillsUSA Nationals at some point in their career. It will be something you will never forget. To the Technology educators out there, ...If not Nationals, at least get your students involved locally in SkillsUSA, for leadership development, regional competitions, and their professional development. I see it as a tremendous disservice to our students to NOT encourage them and be a part of SkillsUSA.

Give the students an opportunity and allow whoever chooses to rise to the top and help them do it! That's why we do what we do!

I look forward to seeing many new advisors jump on board as we get into a new school year with new opportunities for both students and educators for both personal and professional development.

Dan Campagna


Dan Campagna, NBCT
Graphic Arts Teacher
Walton High School
1590 Bill Murdock Rd.
Marietta, GA 30062
770-578-3225 ext. 290
daniel.campagna@cobbk12.org

Congratulations Alyssa! 2nd in the Nation!!!

We just got the word Friday night that Alyssa took 2nd in the Nation! Congratulations. She has worked so hard. Reports say the competition was very stiff this year -- which makes this achievement even more wonderful. We'll have a full report next week and hopefully some pictures from the winner's circle.

From Paul Davis, Instructor at DeKalb Tech....

Alyssa and I met last week to do some training in Adobe InDesign CS3 where she is a quick learner. We met in Dan Campagna's lab at Walton high school during summer break (how's that for Alyssa's commitment). Alyssa should do well in the pre-press portion of the competition. I wish her all the luck.