Atkins wins state in Skills USA

Carroll County High School Skills USA Coach Wayne McKnight congratulates Carroll County High Student Seth Atkins on his "Cardboard Assisted Design or CAD" creations, earning the school's first ever state championship in the occupational display/automotive division.

Submitted photo | Sharon Atkins

These two Cardboard Assisted Design creations by Cavalier Seth Atkins won first place in the Skills USA State Competition in occupational display in the automotive division. Atkins barely had time to squeeze in lunch during the April event as judges and participants appeared enthralled with the working cardboard models which could be taken apart.

Submitted photo | Sharon Atkins

Carroll County High School Skills USA Coach Wayne McKnight had a hunch another Cavalier State honor was afoot during the annual competition this year in April at Virginia Beach. Right after the competition opened, judges and participants from all over the world advanced with cell phone cameras at the ready, toward CCHS Student Seth Atkins’ entries in the occupational display/automotive division.

Atkins, and his "Cardboard Assisted Design or CAD" creations, earned the school's first ever state championship in this division. In 2020 Atkins, then a freshman, made the pages of The Carroll News for CAD. His previous projects included a 1:24 scale model of his home made from Popsicle sticks, hot glue and foam. He has also made models, to scale no less, of furniture in the home and topped it off with shingles cut from leftover roofing. Dubbed a "Mechanical Michelangelo" by the newsroom, he was lauded for creating a working replica of a 1965 Chevy 454 motor. Pistons turn, valves open and close, there's removable spark plug "wires"… and it's all made from cardboard, hot glue and wooden dowels.

The junior wasn't one to rest on pasteboard pretensions. In fact he was feeling less than confident his hobby was going to find a receptive audience in the competitive arena….. He said the competition typically is viewed in the context of what participants want to do in their future careers. Almost like in baseball where scouts are looking at minor league talent.

"It includes people from colleges all around…to see what you do and are interested in. I had never done one of these before….I had no idea what I was doing," said Atkins, who admitted he was nervous going into the event. "We had a time getting every thing together and working to get the ball rolling. It was a really fun time…a fun thing to do and we got to go there and see all the stuff everyone else had built and made. It was pretty cool."

Atkins said while there wasn't qualifying in his division, the building trades team had to qualify before advancing to the Virginia Beach event, and CCHS cosmetology students also participated. In addition to the cardboard engine, he took a new cardboard motorcycle to display. He said he was particularly interested in electrical wiring display with a "wall of wiring" where participants had to figure out glitches in car wiring.

"This one was bigger and better than one I’d done before. It's the same type of motocross vehicle but I put more detail into it…more of it comes apart. I was surprised we got first," said Atkins, "We knew were coming in to compete but we didn't know where to set up or anything like that. We got if figured out. It was so fun. I’d do it again! I was showing it off and after the judges came by and I talked with them, the people there throughout the day would have me take it apart and put it back together again. Within three or four minutes somebody new would come up and I’d show them. Once the judges were caught up and I showed them the project, I left to go get food. Before I even got to the end of the hallway someone had come up and my dad was calling me to come and show them. It got a lot of attention….more than I thought it would. It's been a heck of an experience. I never thought it would go this far."

He shared how the skillset to produce his cardboard creations would be received in general was an unknown to him. Atkins said frankly, CAD began as a result of being bored, which became a hobby with no particular endgame in sight. His inspirational "muse" hasn't been muffled by the competition with some ideas beginning to shape up in his creative field of vision.

"I was thinking about creating a car….I tried to do that before but there's the problem of weight distribution. It's gonna have to sit on its own weight on the tires. I’m going to have to have something to hold it up….most of my projects just go. I make it up as I go," said Atkins. "If I have a problem I just see what would be the best solution to solving it….figure it out as I go along. There's a mystery to it. A mystery to what I’m going to build next….I’m I going to have to re-do this part or the whole thing sometimes….there's some fun in it. There's some projects that haven't been finished. Scrapped. Whatever. That's all part of the process."

Atkins said in addition to a natural progression of improvement to his skill set, such as getting better with a glue gun, faster at making parts and "eyeballing" parts, he has gotten better about structure in his projects.

"Overall I have gotten better about more detail and being able to look at a picture and build it more attuned with what the real thing is," Atkins said. "This was the first time I’d been to Virginia Beach, Skills USA. It was in big arena…it was a beautiful place. When you think this all started out as a hobby, this has me in the mindset of building engines…..it's all about engineering in the end…just different fields of engineering. So I’m thinking of still trying to do mechanical engineering. I’m just glad to have come this far and glad people like it as much as they do."

David Broyles may be reached at 276-779-4013 or on Twitter@CarrollNewsDave