Digital Quest, Inc.

2009 SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology Contest

Contest Registration Open: Monday February 2, 2009 - Friday May 1, 2009

The fourth annual SkillsUSA Geospatial Technology contest will be held at the 2009 SkillsUSA Championships in downtown Kansas City, Missouri June 21-June 26, 2009 - supported by ESRI and Digital Quest. College/postsecondary students studying GIS, RS, and GPS technologies from across the country are invited to compete. Secondary educators interested in a geospatial competition for secondary students are asked to Austin Smith via phone at 1-877-5Remote or via email at austins@digitalquest.com.

Who qualifies?
All registered College or University GIS students.

How do I sign up for this contest?
1. Students or teachers complete the Contest Registration Form.

2. The competition is open to SkillsUSA Members only. To join, Complete and submit the SkillsUSA Sign Up Form. Also include a check for the cost of membership - between $ 16.00 and $22.50 depending on your state. To find your state’s membership fee, go online to http://www.skillsusa.org/join/statedues.shtml. Refer any questions to kperrino@skillsusa.org.

We will verify the information on your registration and submit your registration to SkillsUSA, so be quick and be complete!!!!

The competition is limited to the first 50 students that we verify are College or University students registered in programs that teach GIS.

What will I have to do?
Show off your Geospatial Skills!!!

The qualified contestants will receive the STARS certification kits via mail, worth $500 including a 60-day license of ESRI ArcView 9.3 software. We will send you a formal invitation to the contest following successful registration with instructions on how to down load this years STARS Geospatial Project. You will need to prepare this project in advance and bring it with you to the contest.

In Kansas City, the contestants will orally defend their GIS project, as well as take a written technical knowledge test and a hands-on test of Geospatial Technology skills. Bring your own computer for your presentation and the competition.

Contest orientation followed by a written technical test will begin at 2:00PM on Monday, June 22. Each contestant will turn in his or her STARS GIS project at that time. On Tuesday morning, from 7:30 a.m. to noon, 25 students will offer oral defenses and demonstrations of the completed project they brought to the national contest, while the other 25 students participate in a hands-on, project based test of their Geospatial skills. From 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., the two groups will switch. All contestants will attend the Opening Ceremony Tuesday evening of the National Leadership and Skills Conference, and then attend a debriefing and awards ceremony for the contest on Wednesday morning. Contestants will be free to depart for home after 12 noon on Wednesday, June 25th.

Those contestants at the Kansas City competition whose aggregate score reaches at least 75 percentile will be awarded STARS Certification. STARS (Spatial Technology and Remote Sensing) is a fully developed “turn-key” Certification program for high schools, colleges and universities as well as career professionals looking to integrate geospatial tools into their on-the-job skill set.

The gold medalist will receive a complete ArcGIS ArcView and four Extensions software package worth $10,000 and a $1,000 cash scholarship to reimburse travel expenses to Kansas City. Prizes for the silver and the bronze medalist include the ArcGIS ArcView software package, and $500 and $250 scholarship, respectively. Prizes and awards for other contestants are still in development. Determination of winners will be the sole responsibility of the judges and all decisions will be final. We reserve the right to limit the number of awards given.

Contestants are responsible for all travel and lodging costs and are required to pay a registration fee of $115 to attend the conference.

The “GIS Group” that is serving as the technical committee presently consists of

Digital Quest, Inc. (Eddie Hanebuth, Austin Smith)
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI: Esther Worker, Charlie Fitzpatrick & Ann Johnson)
The Institute for Advanced Education in Geospatial Sciences (Dr. Pamela B. Lawhead)
The Mississippi Enterprise for Technology (Charles Beasley)

We continue to seek: (a) expanded representation on the Geospatial Technology national technical committee; (b) judges: (c) contest equipment; and (d) prizes for place winners or for all the contest’s Kansas City participants. What did last years test and competition look like? The 2007 and 2008 Skills USA exams are posted on the ESRI ArcLessons web site (www.esri.com/arclessons), search titles for SkillsUSA to find the exam.