Austin High School student Lucas Leifermann will compete Thursday for the Skills USA/Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) championship at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

Monday, June 25, 2001

Austin High School student Lucas Leifermann will compete Thursday for the Skills USA/Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) championship at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

If he wins, he will receive a $100,000 international trip that will include stops in Brazil and Germany.

Unlike many other organizations, Skills USA/VICA only allows first-place winners to attend the national final, a grueling eight-hour test.

"It’s meant to grind them, grill ’em, roast ’em, to find out who’s who," said Craig Knippel, graphics teacher at Austin High School.

"The tests will include desktop publishing, image assembly, offset press work and a written test on a variety of subjects, all within the graphics area, that could include color, paper pricing, production scheduling, estimating," Knippel said.

Even though the contest is only one day, Leifermann, Knippel and two other students, Erik Engstrand, who won second place in job skill demonstration, and Eric Bjornsen will be gone for almost an entire week.

The national championship includes participants from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada.

Before the test, Leifermann will be given the opportunity to familiarize himself with the equipment. He also will be expected to attend conferences and meetings on graphics.

He has been practicing in the Twin Cities area at Dunwoody Technical College on their Quick Master press, an all electronic model unlike any the high school owns.

Leifermann received certificates and $1,200 in software, including Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office, for winning the Minnesota championship, which had about 1,000 students competing.

Leifermann has studied graphics for five years, including four at the high school and one at Ellis. He currently works at a local printer, and plans to attend Dunwoody in the fall.

In the past year, under Principal Joseph Brown’s administration, Knippel’s lab has increased production of materials used by the high school, including admission slips required for freshmen.

Call Sam Garchik at 434-2233 or e-mail him at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.