MCC hosts 4th annual Spring Extravaganza April 27
Tuesday / April 12, 2016
Marshalltown Community College will host its fourth annual ‘Spring Extravaganza’ event on April 27. The event will feature career and technical competitions, such as ‘Cupcake Wars’, between area high school students.
Marshalltown Community College will host its fourth annual ‘Spring Extravaganza’ event this April that will feature career and technical competitions between area high school students. The festivities will take place on April 27, at the BTC/Construction Building and Dejardin Hall, from 9 am – 1 pm. Around 200 students from five local high schools will be competing in business, family and consumer sciences, and industrial tech competitions.
This year’s extravaganza will welcome a special guest and “celebrity judge” to its construction competition. Marshalltown Mayor, Jim Lowrance, will help judge this year’s sawhorse competition. Over 40 judges and staff members will help put on the event.
“Since this is the fourth year of competition, the CTE students get better each year,” says Lorna Kennedy, Career Tech Consultant for the AEA. “These students are preparing for College and Career Readiness while building their skills they are showcasing.”
The area high schools competing in this event include BCLUW, East Marshall, West Marshall, GMG, and Marshalltown. Last year’s winner was West Marshall. Each competition will be judged by members of the College, community, and local businesses. Judges will work from a specific rubric in which they will be grading the students.
The winning team will take home this trophy.
The Construction competition (30 students) will have students assembling sawhorses. Judges will be looking for safety/cleanliness, cut lengths, cut accuracy, fit and overall appearance. This year’s theme for ‘Cupcake Wars’ (51 students) is “music.” As in years past, this competition will judge students on the design, creativity, neatness, and taste of the cupcake. The welding competition (20 students) will see students work on four different types of welds. Judges will rate pairs on safety processes, weld consistency, location, thickness, and size. ‘Repurpose with a Purpose’ (13 students) will have students select a used fashion, home, or other post-consumer item and repurpose it in a creative way. The Early Childhood competition, titled ‘Focus on Children’ (25 students) will consist of students designing a lesson plan for children between preschool and second grade, and presenting that to the judges.
New this year is the ‘Rapid Interview’ competition (nine students) and the Video Presentation competition (24 students). Students in the Rapid Interview competition will rotate amongst five interviewers spending about five minutes with each judge, answering questions for a typical job interview. Judges will score based upon first impression, professional dress, general attitude, content of answers, and speaking ability. The Video Presentation competition will have students putting together a visual presentation on any topic of their choice. Judges will look for organization, content knowledge, visuals, mechanics, and delivery.
At approximately 11:30 am, after the competitions are over, lunch will be served to all participants. After lunch there will be an awards ceremony. The high school with the most points earned will win the overall competition. In addition, each of the seven career competitions will award certificates to the top schools for that competition and all students will receive a certificate of participation.
The ‘Spring Extravaganza’ officially starts at 9 am and is open to the public.