A Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center senior made local history by winning the secondary brand design category for the first time in the decade-long SkillsUSA Missouri contest, while several schoolmates took home medals.
The first-place T-shirt design of computer graphic arts design student Amelia Hampton was chosen by membership, after executive council advanced her work, to be worn for the Leadership & Skills Conference held Thursday through Saturday, April 9-11, at the State Technical College of Missouri in Linn.
Hailing from TCC’s service area of Van Buren, Amelia created her design to highlight the outdoors Missouri has to offer in contrast with the post-secondary brand design winner from Cape Girardeau, who used the Gateway Arch as a focal point. The graphics were limited to four colors, plus the shirt itself.
“Amelia, having grown up on the edge of the Ozarks, knows how beautiful Missouri is and wanted to put the spotlight on that,” explained Alex Nicolini, TCC graphic arts instructor. “Missouri is home to some of the most beautiful nature in the world,” he said, elaborating: “from flatland wetlands to hill country full of caves and waterfalls” along with “some of the most gorgeous rivers in our area which Amelia grew up around.”
While the graphic arts space is saturated by artificial intelligence instantaneously producing images that follow standard design principles, Nicolini emphasized that large language models are still trained on references to art "made by a human." He continued: “Being a designer that is able to create something new and fresh to the eyes will remain in demand for a long, long time.”
Amelia's original work, which uses the water texture and color to incorporate the year ever so subtly, will also be featured on the high school trading pin at the national conference in June in Atlanta.
Also qualifying for SkillsUSA Nationals are Nicholas Batrano and Cody Grobe, who earned gold in robotics & automation technology, and Abby Alexander, earning gold in esthetics. Meanwhile Avery Bohrer won a silver medal in cosmetology technology information, along with a bronze in nail care. Also winning bronze medals were Mason Magill in automotive refinishing technology, Andrew Mahurin in culinary arts and Kaden McCain in screen printing technology.
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Cutline: TCC student Milly Hampton is pictured wearing her first-place SkillsUSA T-shirt, alongside instructor Alex Nicolini and TCC Director Dr. Leigh Ann Cornman.