Congratulations to the VALEES Graphic Student of the Year, Haley Stein of Batavia High School!

Participants competed against peers from regional high school graphic programs, at the annual VALEES Graphic Student of the Year Competition held April 6, 2018. Each year students receive a prompt with instructions for the Student of the Year project and have several weeks to complete the work. The 2018 prompt encouraged students to design a brand campaign for a fictional Chicago record company. Each competitor created a visual display, gave a presentation and interviewed with a panel of judges composed of representatives from Waubonsee Community College’s graphics program, professional graphic designers, and graphics teachers from regional schools. After much deliberation, Hailey’s presentation gave her just enough of an edge to take the win in 2018. Congrats to everyone who participated!

Learn more about the Graphics Student of the Year application process…

VALEES held the annual Welding Student of the Year Competition April 11, 2018. During the event, 40 regional welding students competed for bragging rights and prizes generously donated by Weldstar.  The competition, held in the Welding department of Indian Valley Vocational Center (IVVC), challenged students to complete high quality welds in a short period of time. Students were ranked on their adherence to safety, quality and weld type. The results were as follows:

Congratulations to these amazing welders!

2018 Winning School:

Fox Valley Career Center (FVCC)

2018 Student Welder of the Year:

Nick Grobe of FVCC (Kaneland)

MIG

1st Matt Richards, IVVC (Earlville)

2nd Travis Collins, IVVC (Yorkville)

3rd Robert Lockwood, FVCC (Batavia)

OXY

1st Carson Wallace, FVCC (Kaneland)

2nd Kyle Kelty, (Oswego HS)

3rd Wade Clifford, FVCC-(Geneva)

TIG

1st Jackson Prather, IVVC (Earlville)

2nd Nick Grobe, FVCC (Kaneland)

3rd Aaron Wright, FVCC (Kaneland)

STICK

1st Nick Behnke, FVCC (St. Charles N.)

2nd Austin Weisbrook, IVVC (Newark)

3rd Reece Sowell, FVCC (Kaneland)

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2018 Burgess-Norton Scholarships:

Kyle Konrad (pictured above with Burgess-Norton President Brett Vasseur) of Kaneland High School, received one of the two $2500 scholarships. Kyle plans to major in Mechanical Engineering at Bradley University, Peoria, IL.

Blake Brokup of Waubonsie Valley High School (not pictured), also won a $2500 scholarship.
He plans to attend Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.

The scholarships are designed to provide financial support for graduating high school seniors in the Valley Education for Employment (VALEES) region who wish to pursue their education in fields that relate to careers in the manufacturing industry.

Read more about the scholarship recipients…

Information about the BN scholarship…