If you’re a student and you have the opportunity to test your skills by competing with professionals in your industry, do you take it?
When presented with this challenge, SCTCC’s Water Environment Technologies (WETT) students stepped up and sent two teams to compete with industry professionals and students in the annual pipe tapping competition held by the American Water Works Association. They also sent two teams for a fire hydrant assembly competition.
The pipe tapping competition is a timed event that tests competitors’ ability to tap into a pressurized pipe and connect it to another pipe by bending a new copper connection pipe into place (see video below).
Less than a month after starting in SCTCC’s WETT program, students on the all-male team and the first-ever all-female team competed with industry professionals from Minneapolis and Duluth, as well as students from Vermilion Community College.
“The men’s team did really well,” said WETT Instructor Gregg Kropp. “They set a new record time for students and were getting close to the times of the professional teams.”
Industry professionals at the competition took notice of the men’s performance, and one SCTCC student was offered a job on the spot.
“The women’s team also had a really strong showing,” said Kropp. “They essentially matched the all-male team from Vermillion College on their first try, which is really great to see. The women's team is not only a first-ever for the college, it's a first-ever for the MN section of the American Water Works Association. I’m really happy to see both of our teams perform so well.”
