PARIS – Oxford Hills Technical High School students need the public’s help to represent Maine in a national competition in Kansas this summer.

Last month, eight students from the local technical high school came home from the 2007 Skills USA annual state conference in Bangor with enough medals to send six of the students to the 42nd annual national leadership and skills conference in Kansas City, Kan., in June.

The catch is the students must pay their way there.

“It would be nice to tie in the people in the community who are professionals,” said graphic arts teacher and Skills USA adviser Virginia Valdes, who hopes companies in the area that share the same skills as the students will sponsor their trip.

Skills USA is a national organization serving more than 245,000 high school and college students who are enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled and service occupations.

“We send them the best,” said local chapter President Allison Reid, who participated in the quiz bowl at the state conference.

The following students received medals at the competition. Gold medal winners are eligible to compete at the national level but must earn $600 each to get to Kansas.

Scott Heidrich and Travis Brace won the gold medal for video and television production category. Scott, an Oxford resident, and Travis, of Norway, made a 60-second film describing Maine’s Career Center for Technical Education.

“We had no idea what our project was when we got there,” Heidrich said of their film subject. The film will be shown at the State House in Augusta at a later date, he said.

Heidrich, student body president and a member of the Student Council, and Travis, a member of the drama and theater group at school, hope to continue their education after graduation. Heidrich hopes to attend Emerson College to major in film, and Travis will be going to the Art University in San Francisco to major in animation.

Colin Mansfield and Brad Smith placed first in robotics and automation category.

“I wired up a conveyor belt and a buzzer and light to run on at the appropriate times,” explained Mansfield, a Norway resident and treasurer of the local Skills USA chapter.

Mansfield hopes to attend college and study mechanical engineering after graduation.

Smith of Oxford, who was captain of the high school football team and wrestling team in which he won a state title, hopes to attend either Maine Maritime to study power engineering or Husson College to study criminology.

Jennifer Schnoor of Oxford won a gold medal in auto collision category. Her competition included a written test, and showing her ability in welding, dent repair, painting, panel bonding and masking parts of a car. She participates in softball and will enter Central Maine Community College in Auburn where she hopes to earn an accounting degree. Her career goal is to manage an auto repair shop or work in the front office.

Arika Baker won a gold in advertising and a gold medal in pin design. She will attend the Academy of Art in San Francisco to earn an associate’s degree in fine arts and computer art. This summer, the Oxford resident will continue her work at the local movie theater.

Her winning pin design featured an outline of the state of Maine with the words Skills 2008 on a dark blue background of yellow stars and pine trees. Her gold medal ad was a design for the 7 Summits project for the National Geographic TV channel.

Victoria Jackson of Oxford won a third place in advertising design. She will be moving to Portland this summer to attend the Maine College of Art in the fall. She hopes to earn a degree in fine arts and graphic design.

Her assignment was also to design an ad for the National Geographic TV channel using the Northface logo. She had 20 photos to choose from and three hours to make the design.

Adam Letourneau, bronze winner in the building trades, is a resident of Hebron who hopes to go into the carpentry business when he graduates in June. His project was to build one-half of a small building using plans he was given at the competition.

The most difficult part?

“Knowing you’re under a time schedule,” he said. He completed the project in just over five hours.

For more information, Valdes may be reached at 743-7756, ext. 3106. Checks may be sent to OHTHS Skills USA, 256 Main St., South Paris, ME 04281.