COM PTEC Team Takes Third at National Competition

A Process Technology team from College of the Mainland placed third among teams from across the country in the North American Process Technology Alliance Troubleshooting Skills Competition held over the weekend.

The “Weir’s the Leak” team consisting of Captain Shane Berg, Michael Matherne, Cruz Puebla and Nicholas Tobey placed third and also received an award for best team name.

During the competition held April 26-27 at River Parishes Community College in Gonzales, La., students used a web-based Learning Management System (LMS) to answer questions related to troubleshooting scenarios. Each team had to contend with four, timed scenarios. At the end of each scenario, the three teams are given 20 questions related the troubleshooting scenarios to answer.

Forty teams took part in the contest overall but only the top 10 teams took part in the weekend competition. COM had two teams compete over the weekend. The second team - “Steady State” -  led by Captain Steven Stack, Raymond Cardenas, Mason Giusti and Melissa Jared placed seventh.

The two teams each made up of four students from COM were the school’s top qualifiers in quarterfinal competition held in March. Five PTEC teams from COM competed in the quarterfinal contest.

The COM teams are coached by COM PTEC faculty members Derrick Lewis and Dennis Link.

In order to compete, team members must be enrolled in a process technology program on a full or part-time basis and cannot be currently employed or previously employed as an operator.

The Process Technology program at COM was the first of its kind in the country and will be celebrating its 25th anniversary this fall.

To view other photos of the Process Technology teams taken by COM photographer Scott Turnbough, click on the following link: https://commarketing.smugmug.com/Departments/PTEC/Troubleshooting-Teams/2019-PTEC-Troubleshooting-Team/