Effort plus skill equals success for one Thomas County Central High School Career Technical Agricultural Education student.
Senior Stan?ley Clay has qualified for the National Leadership and Skills Competition this summer. Clay, 19, placed first in Motorcycle Service Technology during the recent Georgia SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference.
Clay feels good about his placement.
“It means the world to me,” he said. “It made me more than happy to win on the state level and go on to the national level.”
Michael Clapper is Clay’s Maintenance and Light Repair instructor through the TCCHS CTAE department’s automotive technology pathway. Clapper describes Clay as a student who’s always had a desire to understand how things work mechanically. He says Clay decided to switch to this category last year after not advancing to state competition in Automotive Service Technology.
“He had several people to help him out along the way and bought himself a motorcycle to practice on,” Clapper says. “He has always done well in the automotive side of things, and I felt confident he would be successful in motorcycles.”
Clay says he chose this field because it interested him and he knew he could learn more about it. Preparation for competition included reviewing the standards and bringing his bike to the shop to practice the type of task he would do during his event.
“My CTAE class allowed me to prepare for competition by allowing me to bring in a bike to work on and helping me do research on how everything works,” he said.
Clapper says Clay has a passion for the industry and put in much hard work to get to his current skill and competition level. Clay recently acquired a job with Thomasville Toyota, employment where he can apply what he’s learned in class and continue to grow and expand his knowledge and skills.
“Making it to nationals was not by chance,” Clapper says. “Stanley is an extremely hard worker and his effort shows.”
National competition will be held in Louisville, Ky., June 25-29.
Ultimately, Clay intends to continue pursuing knowledge and experience with motorcycles and within the automotive field