The 2018 Job Olympics, hosted at Johnson County Community College, are finished and students have received their medals and ribbons.

South took third place out of 40 schools, winning a trophy, 20 medals and several ribbons for some students who didn’t win a medal.

The trophy now sits in the classroom until they find a spot to showcase all their hard work for others to see in the school.

This year there were 27 events that students competed from 8:30- 11:30a.m. on March 27. An awards ceremony was held from 11a.m.- 2p.m. that afternoon.

Participating students were all excited and happy with their results in their practicing and winning of events.

Job Olympics is an event that JCCC hosts annually each year in late March for different Interpersonal Skills, IPS, and Center Base Resource, CBR, classes.

A variety of 40 schools around the Kansas City area brought their IPS and CBR classes to compete in different events such as folding towels, wiping tables, job interviews and many more job oriented skills.

The goal of this event is so students can learn and develop such skills to use later in life when getting a job or just working in the community with others.

This year, Catherine Wormus, Carie Yeo, IPS teachers, and Nick Hoffmeier, CBR teacher, took 23 competitors, nine paras and 26 student peers.

Hoffmeier said, “It’s not only a competition, but a learning experience. The kids learn how to do basic job skills that would help in any and many different areas in community work settings.”

Hoffmeier has been going to the event and taking classes for the past five years and has continued to take part in this activity.

The teachers of these classes, such as Hoffmeier, Wormus and Yeo, were able to sign up and choose what four events they believed to be a best fit for each of their individual students and what they could grow in the most.

“Seeing the joy the kids have being able to do the activities and the hard work they do to prepare,” Hoffmeier said.

Students, their peer mentors and paras started practicing for their events in January and continued up to the day of the competition when they would show off all their hard work.

“I worked really, really hard so I can get my medal and take it home,” Brandon Trent, sophomore, said.

Students were not only competing in jobs but were also able to have fun and enjoy being with friends and making new ones while learning.