Five Questions With: Jason Valdes

Jason Valdes, an 18-year-old from Warwick, represented the country in Compétences Québec/Skills Canada, an invitational Olympic-style competition and leadership program held from May 3-7 in Quebec City. He competed in the computer-aided design and drafting portion of the event. / COURTESY SKILLSUSA RI
Jason Valdes, an 18-year-old from Warwick, represented the country in Compétences Québec/Skills Canada, an invitational Olympic-style competition and leadership program held from May 3-7 in Quebec City. He competed in the computer-aided design and drafting portion of the event. / COURTESY SKILLSUSA RI

Jason Valdes, an 18-year-old from Warwick, knew he wanted to become an engineer and so began taking computer-aided design and drafting courses at the Warwick Area Career and Technical Center. With those classes came a funded membership to the Rhode Island branch of SkillsUSA, a nonprofit organization helping to ensure the nation has a skilled workforce. Valdes, the top student in his class, was asked by his teacher, John Ficarra, to represent the country in Compétences Québec/Skills Canada, an invitational Olympic-style competition and leadership program held from May 3-7 in Quebec City. Valdes, who did not place, competed in the CADD event.

PBN: Do you take CADD classes at school or do you spend your free time researching the technology?
VALDES:
I took CADD classes at the WACTC for three years before classes ran out and enjoy designing items on my own. I am currently enrolled in the electronics program at the WACTC and whenever I need a case for one of my projects, I design it in the CAD program on my PC and 3-D print it at school. I am also in the process of designing a 3x3x1 Rubik’s cube. I thought it would be a fun challenge.

PBN: How has partnering, or becoming involved with, SkillsUSA Rhode Island helped you improve your knowledge of CADD and advance in your level of competition?
VALDES:
SkillsUSA RI gave me the opportunity to test the skills I learned in Mr. Ficarra’s class in a pressurized situation that allowed me to really see where I was in terms of proficiency. Having achieved gold at the state level, I have been able to go to the national competition, which has challenged me even more, and forced me to focus and increase my skill to match the competition. Because of Mr. Ficarra’s direction and instruction, I ranked second in the nation and received a silver medal in the SkillsUSA Technical Drafting competition.

PBN: How did you feel when you learned you were invited to compete and represent the U.S. at the competition in Canada?
VALDES:
I went from competing on a national scale to representing the nation. It was crazy. I was nervous, but I’ve competed for a while, and been nervous before, so I have learned to calm myself down in the moment, but this certainly takes the cake for foreign nerve-racking engagements.

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PBN: What tasks did you have to complete at the competition in Canada?
VALDES:
The competition was separated into six different two-hour modules with distinctly diverse challenges. The first was a design problem where we had to create a tool to accomplish a specific task. The second module required us to modify a pre-existing assembly to fit new specifications, arguably the most realistic part of the competition. The next was a surface modeling challenge. On day two, we started by creating a parametric part, a part designed to have resizable dimensions so that it can be easily redesigned to be bigger or smaller. Then we molded a very complex part that required incredibly odd angles. The final module was a sheet metal project that required us to size the bends of the design so it would look right when folded up.

PBN: Do you want to pursue CADD courses in college or incorporate the CAD skills you used to compete for the U.S. into a potential career?
VALDES:
Yes. I hope to test out of a few courses, because I have a lot of experience with CAD, but I am certainly very far from having a complete knowledge of the subject. I enjoy CAD very much and would like to use it in my intended career, mechanical engineering. If it were a major part of my career, I would never have to work a day in my life.

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