South Side student awarded for nationwide contest win

JACKSON, Tenn. — A local high school student won a nationwide contest, and one of the school’s departments was also awarded.

South Side High School’s automotive department was awarded Monday with a Matco master workstation and tool storage unit valued at thousands of dollars.

The gift comes after one of the school’s students, Kelly Smythe, won a nationwide contest.

Representatives from Lincoln College of Technology in Nashville were at the school to award Smythe’s school.

Admissions screener Kelsea Bright says contests like these and supporting technical programs are important due to a serious lack of technicians.

“If all the schools in the nation graduate every person that they have right now, we will still be 250,000 technicians short in this country for about the next 10 years,” Bright said.

Smythe was one of only 12 students nationwide who was awarded equipment a school.