July 21, 2006
For Immediate Release
For an interview:
Steve Fordham
(801) 863-8167
For additional information:
www.uvsc.edu/techcom/
www.skillsUSA.org
Father Coaches Son to National Gold Medal at SkillsUSA
As part of the Utah Valley State College silver medal winning SkillsUSA team, UVSC Associate Professor Steve Fordham coached his son and UVSC student Chad Fordham to gold in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) contest at the national SkillsUSA competition this June. The gold medal finish marks the first time in UVSC history that a father-son duo has accomplished such a feat.
C. Fordham, an air conditioning and refrigeration technology senior from Springville, Utah, competed against 50 other state winners in the day-long competition that included a written exam and eight hands-on skill competitions. Each of the eight applied demonstrations took from 30 to 60 minutes and covered knowledge skills on electrical troubleshooting, air measurement and refrigerant component service.
“The hardest part was that there were so many different kinds of equipment, so they were real life problems with real people,” C. Fordham said. “While schooling was part of it, my dad raised me in the business and I’ve been doing this since I’ve been born so it was an ongoing process and it was good to show that I picked up some of it.”
S. Fordham, a faculty member and department chair of the UVSC Construction Technologies Department, has been a SkillsUSA advisor since 1989. Though he has participated in the many top-10 UVSC finishes over the past years, it has been 15 years since a UVSC student has won a gold medal. According to him, to be a part of the winning team many years later is great and to have his son be the winner, makes the victory that much sweeter.
“I’ve seen the competitiveness at the national level increase as well as the quality of the students and the complexities of the equipment they work on,” S. Fordham said. “For me, as his advisor and as his father, it was exciting to see Chad’s confidence in handling and correctly diagnosing all the problems thrown at him.”
The air conditioning and refrigeration industry requires 20,000 qualified technicians each year in the ever-growing and changing field. The UVSC Technology Management Department strives to meet that rising demand as it works towards its mission goal to provide first-class, highly technical, problem-solving graduates to meet the needs of business and industry.
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College Marketing Contact:
Megan Laurie
(801) 863-7149
Written by:
Dixie Millet
(801) 863-8504
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