East Providence Career and Tech Center hosts SkillsUSA Graphic Communications competition

EAST PROVIDENCE — The East Providence High School Career and Technical Center was the site of the 2014 SkillsUSA Graphic Communications state competition Friday, March 14. Students from vocational schools across  Rhode Island visited locally to compete in the discipline, which was made up of an eight-part contest.

Graphic Communications entails the following:
Digital Press – using a Ricoh Digital Press and or other available devices, the student will set up the machine for proper file transfer, creating a finished product that may consist of variable data and or inline finishing along with completing a short written test;
Digital Workflow – the student accesses files and follows instructions to perform preflight operations, reviewing and making corrections as needed for correct output;
Electronic Prepress – the student creates a file using Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, and Illustrator on an Apple computer, following instructions to create a file that matches a provided sample;
Finishing – the student operates a Baumcut programmable cutter, properly trimming down a sheet to its finished size, set up a table top Baumfolder for a tri-fold and a half-fold and complete a short written test;
Offset Press Operations – using a Heidelberg Printmaster 46-2, the student will set up the feeder and delivery, mount and adjust plates, print two colors on a preprinted two color sheet creating a 4-color finished job;
Oral Professional Assessment – the student participates in an interview exercise;
Production Planning – the student will solve a production estimating problem relating to the cost justification of printing a job on a digital press verses an offset press. This area of the contest will be in conjunction with the Digital Press contest;
Technical Knowledge Test – the student completes a general technical knowledge test developed using competencies from the introduction to graphic Communications accreditation area of PRINT-ED.

Winners from the state level advance to compete in the SkillsUSA TECHSPO in Kansas City, Mo., June 24-26.
More than 16,000 high school and college students, their teachers and school administrators from training programs in technical, skilled and service occupations gather there at was is billed as the largest trade show for technical education.