A Wisconsin high school welding program’s generous and thoughtful contributions to its community helped it take first place in the CHANNELLOCK Trade School Trade-Up competition. The competition challenges students to create a one-of-a-kind video showcasing their team’s technical skills in action. Videos are judged based on creativity, passion for their respective trade, and the impact made on their community with the help of CHANNELLOCK tools. Teams must be made up of students in auto, plumbing, welding, electrical or HVAC trades.

Channellock Inc. presented first place to Ladysmith High School in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, with a prize of $5,000 cash, new tools for students and their classroom, and a CHANNELLOCK classroom makeover. The school’s welding program was chosen for its unique video highlighting its welding program and the improvements and contributions it has made to its city. This includes silhouettes for its city veterans memorial, railings for city parks, downtown bike racks, and repairing burned-out grills in city parks. Students in the program have also created numerous sign art pieces and metal frame tables that they've donated to community organizations for charity auctions.

“We believe in educating the future of our skilled workforce in America,” said Jon DeArment, president and chief operating officer of Channellock Inc. “Trade School Trade-Up was created to give students in trade schools an opportunity to showcase their abilities and demonstrate the value of career and technical education. Channellock, Inc., is dedicated to helping close the national skills gap by equipping the future tradesmen and women of America with tools for success. We hope this program inspires trade school students to give back to their communities and be proud of their craft.”

Channellock Inc. selected the top three submissions and released them for social media voting. Once all the votes were in, Ladysmith High School was awarded first place after receiving the most social media likes for their video submission.

“The investment CHANNELLOCK is making in our students and welding program will have a huge impact not only now, but for years to come,” said Kyle Jeffress, welding instructor at Ladysmith High School. "The extra resources will allow us to take our program and our projects to the next level. This will go a long way for our students as we do our best to make them college and career-ready. The return on investment will be so significant that it is impossible to measure.”

The following are the winning schools: 

1st Place: Ladysmith High School; Ladysmith, Wisconsin – Welding

• $5,000 cash prize, CHANNELLOCK tools for team members and their classroom, and a classroom makeover with CHANNELLOCK BLUE wall paint and fatheads

2nd Place: Norwalk High School; Norwalk, California – Auto

• $2,500 cash prize, CHANNELLOCK tools for team members and their classroom

3rd Place: Great Oaks Career Campuses, Laurel Oaks Campus; Wilmington, Ohio – Auto

• $1,000 cash prize, CHANNELLOCK tools for team members and their classroom

This is the second year of the Trade School Trade-Up competition, originally introduced in June 2018 at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. The 2018 winner, Worchester Tech High School, received a welding department classroom makeover. A video of the before and after can be seen on YouTube.

More information about the 2020 Trade School Trade-Up competition is available at www.channellock.com/tradeup.