Monroe High School senior Corey Knabusch was awarded the Grand Award for Wrought Metal at the 2017 Michigan Industrial and Technical Education Society (MITES) Student Project Competition. Knabusch is the first Trojan to ever receive the honor, which is given to the top project in the competition that brings CTE students from all across the state.

“It was really humbling,” Knabusch said. “It was a really cool event. There were so many great projects, even outside of my division. I was actually surprised that my project did that well. It was really cool.”

Knabusch’s project, which was the first he had ever entered into MITES competition, depicts two pheasants taking flight from the foreground of four stalks of corn, adorned with an intricate spider web and a butterfly. He began working on it before the start of the third trimester and spent time outside of school working on it as well with Glenn Zorn, his welding teacher.

“Mr. Zorn and I sat down one day and we were just trying to figure out what to do,” Knabusch said. “I’m into hunting and he came up with the idea of the pheasants and I live on a farm so I added the corn stalks and we went from there.”

After having started the project, Knabusch broke his leg in a dirt bike accident and had to take time off of working, but was still able to produce a top-tier submission in the Large Sculptures/Models over 30” division, which would eventually win the top prize for the Wrought Medal category.

“He had to take six weeks off of working,” Zorn said. “He worked really hard on it, though. It was a really cool project.”

Zorn has a lot to be proud of with his students this year. Several other Trojans performed extraordinarily in the Wrought Metal category of the 2017 MITES competition. Senior Dalton Benner took first in Outdoor/Sporting Goods Project division and senior Trevor Duvall took first place in Small Sculptures/Models under 30”.

2017 Michigan Breaking Traditions Merit Award recipient Starlyn Higgins, also a senior, took second in Small Sculptures and Outdoor/Sporting Goods. Senior Jeff Salliotte was awarded second place in the CNC Cutting Process division. Lucas Michelin, also a twelfth grader, took second in Small Fixture/Furniture and sophomore Andrew Young took second in Large Sculpture.

Monroe High School also took 11 more Top 10 finishes in the competition in a total field of over 5000 entries.

The strong showing by Trojans in the MITES competition is a reflection of the growth of Monroe High School’s CTE programs, instructions, and offerings.

“Seeing the impressive work by our students and the accolades that they have received for their work really shows the commitment the district and our teachers have to Career and Technical Education,” Monroe Public Schools Superintendent Julie Everly said. “We are so proud of Corey and all of our CTE students.”

Knabusch, a summa cum laude graduate was named to Monroe High School’s Top 100 Scholars of the Class of 2017. Even though he plans to study agricultural sciences at Monroe County Community College instead of welding, Knabusch still learned valuable lessons from his experiences in the MITES competition and the Career and Technical Education courses at Monroe High School.

“It was really hard, with all the intricate parts,” he said. “It was really challenging and thought-provoking. The project just taught me that if you really think of something and want to do something, you just have to try it.”