Three Telecom students competed at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC) in Louisville, Kentucky June 24-28.

They are Michael McClellan, Jerrl Bailey, and Seth Hursey, and they are the creators of a SkillsUSA OSHA Rules Scrapbook that won that division at the State conference in Virginia Beach.

The OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) Rules Scrapbook is a package of the students' research in their occupational area (Television/Video Production) pertaining to health and safety.

The scrapbook contains a title page, table of contents, calendar of events, introduction, minutes of meetings, and four health and/or safety projects. The projects are chosen from these five categories: Shop/Laboratory Health and Safety Survey, Machine and Equipment Safety, Workplace Inspection, Specialized Health and Safety Project, and Other Industrial or Occupational Health and Safety Project.

The Telecom students' project involved safety rules and precautions used in and around the NNPS-TV television production truck.

The three students have just completed their first year in the Telecom program and will be seniors the upcoming school year. McClellan and Hursey attend Woodside High, while Bailey goes to Warwick.

The students were accompanied to the conference by their instructor, Carl Daniels, Jr., and Telecom Supervisor Ray Price. It was the first time Daniels attended the national conference and good experience for him as well as the students.

Over 18,000 students, teachers and business partners were expected to participate in the event over the course of the week, with more than 6,500 state contest winners attending and competing.

"It's a huge event," said Price. "It's so incredible to see," he continued.

"There are only so many places it can be held because it's so big," he said.

In 2016, SkillsUSA announced that Atlanta, Georgia would be the new site of the national conference starting in 2021. It will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center.

The Telecom team placed 14th, but learned a lot from the experience.

For Hursey, it meant enjoying his first airplane flight.

"It was really exciting," he said of the whole trip.

"We didn't win any medals, but it was a great experience," he said.

The students were able to see the other OSHA scrapbooks competing nationally, and had a debriefing by the judges, which will help them in future competitions.