Photo: June Garneau of Twin Mountain, a 2007 graduate of the Spatial Information/GIS certificate program at New Hampshire Community College-Berlin was the gold medal winner in the Skills USA Postsecondary Geospatial Technology Challenge national competition held in Kansas City, Mo in June. Congratulating Garneau on her success are (l-r) Eddie Hanebuth, President of Digital Quest; Tim Lawrence, Executive Director, Skills USA; Garneau; Ester Worker, ESRI Inc.; and Austin Smith, Digital Quest. (Courtesy Photo)
June Garneau arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, a competitor, and left as a winner. Garneau was awarded a Gold Medal in the Postsecondary Geospatial Technology Challenge at the Skills USA National Leadership and Skills Conference and Competition on June 25-27. She is also the recipient of thousands of dollars in software and a cash award. Garneau's gold medal was based upon an extensive pre-challenge project, STARS testing, and completion of challenge events at the conference. Garneau is a 2007 graduate of the one-year Spatial Information Technology/Geographic Information Systems (GIS) certificate program at New Hampshire Community College in Berlin. The College will be the recipient of a gold medallion in honor of Garneau's success.
This is the second year Skills USA offered national college competitions. The competitions were designed to provide colleges with an effective way to validate their technical programs and measure them against national standards. An on-line exam served as a qualifying system. The exam tested academic knowledge, technical knowledge within the subject area, and general employability skills, in order to ensure a well-rounded individual. CCSNH-Berlin GIS Professor Peg Heaney leaned about the competition from an ESRI Educators newsletter. She encouraged her students to take the exam. Garneau accepted the challenge and took the exam in March. She learned in May that her scores were high enough to meet the national standard to advance to the SKILLS USA Championships in Kansas City. Thus began her quest for the gold. Garneau's experience in GIS has gone full circle. "My interest began one year prior to the competition, when I enrolled in a GIS course taught by Professor Peg Heaney , for kindergarten through 12th grade teachers. I was so interested after the course that I decided to pursue the field of GIS. I am so pleased to end my year of study with this competition and the gold medal" Garneau says her success is a real tribute to Peg Heaney and the GIS program. "I was well prepared with a great knowledge base to take out to Kansas City. I was trained to look for solutions to challenges that were presented as part of the competition. The GIS program at CCSNH-Berlin is a great over-all picture of the benefits of GIS and provides a basic skill set which you can expand upon in the field. It's amazing what I learned in this one-year program," says Garneau.
The competition was planned and judged to industry standards for an entry-level worker in the field. Contests were run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations. Garneau was required to work on a GIS mapping and analysis project prior to traveling to Kansas City. Her project involved Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data collection, surface model development, and site analysis based upon pre-set competition criteria. June chose White Mountain Regional High School as her project, which focused on the best location for a garden. According to Garneau, she put at least 80 hours into her project, which included choosing a location in which to use digitizing techniques and GPS data collecting to create a campus based model including building, water sources, sport facilities, and other campus features. From her base model, she created 3-dimensional models and a preferred garden location based upon six preset criteria. As part of the competition, she had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation, maps, and a written report. "The experience gave me a unique opportunity to expand my knowledge, build my confidence and abilities in GIS and to successfully meet challenges that took me through a whole range of skill sets," says Garneau.
"I’m very excited for June. It can be intimidating to return to school as an adult and she had her moments of doubt during the course of the year. June was never afraid to work diligently and ask questions. It is gratifying to know that our program prepares students to successfully compete at the national level," says Professor Peg Heaney.
Garneau also earned STARS Certification from Eddie Hanebuth, President of Digital Quest, Inc., operators of the SPACESTARS teacher training Laboratory at the Center of Geospatial Center of Excellence in NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. STARS (Spatial Technology and Remote Sensing) is the first industry recognized, geospatial certification recognized by NASA, the U.S. Department of Labor and by industry leaders.
Garneau's trip was made possible in part by donations from the CCSNH-Berlin Student Senate and by a scholarship from PSNH/NASA, through the NHCTC System Foundation. She says SKILLS USA is an amazing organization and the New Hampshire organization was very helpful in assisting her in travel arrangements and accommodations. Garneau is currently employed by North Country Council in Bethlehem. She is currently working on wild fire mitigation mapping. She resides in Twin Mountain with her husband and two sons.
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