Rowe, WCHS Classmates Qualify For State-level Skills USA Competition

Rowe, WCHS classmates qualify for state-level Skills USA competition – The News Journal Aaron Rowe is the scrappy senior leader, along with Javon Rider, for the Whitley County Colonels basketball team this season. He leads the team in rebounds (6 per game avg.), and also averages 5.5 points per game, but his skillset goes far beyond the basketball court.

Last week, Rowe and several of his WCHS classmates made the trip to London to participate in the Skills USA regional competition, an event where young tradespeople get the opportunity to show what they can do in several different areas of work. Rowe brought home first place honors in both the job demo and welding fabrication categories.

“I make a lot of things for myself, and for other people,” Rowe said, pointing to a special hitch that he made for his truck recently as one specific example of how his welding training is helping him to excel in his true passion – shoeing horses.

“You can tell a lot about problems that a horse could have just by looking at its feet,” said Rowe, who plans on making a career out of being a farrier after he graduates high school.

Rowe said that this is a trade that not many people are getting into, meaning there is a higher demand for someone who can do it well. In turn, he is taking all of the necessary steps to become the best that he can possibly be at it.

“When I was younger, I always watched my dad do it, and I thought it was the coolest thing,” Rowe explained. “I always hung around him, and was handing him tools and stuff. I just thought it was interesting how you could help a horse do so much better just by putting a piece of metal on its foot.”

Rowe said that he has always heard the old saying of “if you do something you love, you never have to work a day in your life,” and he is hoping that this will be the case for him and getting to work with horses.

Last school year, Rowe left Kentucky for about four months to attend a school in Idaho for shoeing horses. He said it was a great experience, and taught him a lot about the trade. Now he is continuing to build on that knowledge as he keeps an eye on the future.

With the Skills USA state competition taking place in Louisville next month, Rowe is hopeful that he can “go out with a bang” by winning a state-level championship in his final year at WCHS. Before that, however, he and his fellow basketball Colonels have some business to take care of at home with this year’s 50th District championship tournament set to tip off next week.

“Our team has grown a lot throughout the year,” Rowe said. “But the more that we’ve played together, the more we’ve come together as a team. When we work together, we succeed.”

Rowe also plans on competing in track and field this spring before he graduates and enters the workforce full time.

Full results (Whitley County) from Skills USA regional: