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Local youth second in national skills contest

Mason Sell
Mason Sell Photo provided.

During the week of June 25, Mason Sell participated at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, KY, competing in the CNC Milling Specialist Competition. Sell is the son of Adam and Lynnette Sell.

The main part of the contest was for competitors to program a HAAS CNC Simulator. Sell was given two hours to use trigonometry, shop math and/or geometry to calculate coordinates needed to program the HAAS CNC simulator according to the part print supplied.

Sell programmed the mill part on Thursday. After each contestant was finished with their program, it was graded using Vericut software and then a HAAS CNC Applications Engineer allowed one “Cycle Start” on a previously set-up piece of material to run the contestants’ part. Sell’s was one of only three parts that ran on the CNC mill at the High School Level.

The remainder of the contest included written tests, hands-on tasks, metrology and a graded interview. The first test was GD&T (geometric dimensioning and tolerancing), where they were tested on theory and application of symbols and rules commonly used by engineers and machinists. The next section was on process control, which included inspection of parts using tools such as depth micrometers, outside micrometer, protractors and dial calipers. Then Sell was tested on general machining knowledge, which can include any aspect of manual or CNC machining. Contestants were also scored on professionalism, official dress and their resume during a mock interview.

Sell is a 2018 graduate of South Adams High School. He is currently employed at Intri-Cut, Roanoke, where he works in their manual machining area; setting up and operating a variety of machining equipment. Sell will be attending Purdue University – Fort Wayne this fall where he will be pursuing a manufacturing engineering degree.
For placing second in the nation, Sell will receive a $3,500 cash scholarship through the Gene Haas Foundation. Other prizes include a 10-inch Acer Tablet from NIMS/HAAS, $100 gift card from SkillsUSA, $250 gift certificate from Carhartt, $1,000 scholarship from Baker College, $2,000 Scholarship to UTI, $100 cash scholarship from Magna Corp. and several books from Industrial Press including the 30th edition Machinery’s Handbook with CD/ROM.

For more information about the National Leadership and Skills Conference, go to: skillsusa.org/events-training/national-leadership-and-skills-conference.