Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Before heading for UC-Davis in the fall, Andy Swing did his alma mater, Los Gatos High School, proud by winning a gold medal at the national industrial arts competition in Kansas City, Mo. Last week, he was recognized by the Los Gatos Town Council for his accomplishment.

LGHS grad takes a gold at the VICA conference

By Leigh Ann Maze

Los Gatan Andy Swing, 18, has always been mechanically minded. As a child, his mother had to teach him the concept of "all one piece," because he was always trying to take things apart, Swing said. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that Swing, who is mostly self-taught, won a gold medal in Electronics Technology at the SkillsUSA-Vocational Industrial Clubs of America 36th Annual Leadership Conference and Championships in Kansas City, Mo., on June 29.

The hands-on competition tests high school students in over 72 different vocational trades, such as electronics, cabinetmaking, welding and cosmetology.

Swing was competing against high school students from 42 other states and territories, most of whom come from technology high schools where they study electronics everyday, Swing said.

"I've never taken a class in electronics. I've learned everything all on my own," Swing said. Swing also credits his father, who is an electrical engineer, for his skills.

Swing came to the SkillsUSA-VICA competition on his own as a freshman from Los Gatos High School after hearing someone mention it in his woodshop class. He competed all four years of high school, winning a gold at state in applied electronics his first year and a silver at state in electronics technology his second year. During his third year, Swing won a gold at state in electronics technology and went on to place fifth at nationals.

Swing went to this year's national competition with recently retired LGHS Industrial Arts teacher Ron Cassel and five of his LGHS classmates, who competed as a team in a jeopardy-like competition.

Swing, competed on his own in Electronics Technology in which he had to prove his skills in five different areas.

The first test was similar to a job interview, Swing said, and tested his consistency, knowledge and communication skills. The second part of the competition was a written test, with a lot of math and formulas, Swing said. He then had to complete a soldering project followed by a two-hour-long troubleshooting test in which competitors had to identify 28 faults on a series of circuit boards. Lastly, the contestants had two hours to put together three circuit boards.

Swing won a gold medal for his accuracy, level of completion and overall performance in the competition.

He made it to the national competition by winning first place against 18 others at the state competition in Riverside in April, and first place at the regional competition in Salinas in February.

Swing said the bedroom at his Los Gatos home, where he lives with his parents and younger sister, is like a giant electronics workbench. He's always working on projects, such as a way to control all of the lighting and electronics in his bedroom from his bed. At Christmas time, he devised a contraption that automatically watered the Christmas tree when the water level was low.

"I like to make people's lives easier with technology," Swing said.

While at LGHS, Swing did the lighting for most of the plays, musicals and school dances. He was in charge of the sound system for the Every 15 Minutes drunk driving awareness program in April and fixed the school's bell system when it was broken.

Swing is working at Paradigm, the San Jose electronics manufacturing company where his father works, for the summer. He plans to attend UC-Davis in the fall to study, what else? Electrical engineering.

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