San Jacinto College process technology team wins national title

HOUSTON, Texas – The San Jacinto College process technology student team has done it again, capturing gold at the 2019 North American Process Technology Alliance (NAPTA) Troubleshooting Competition for the third consecutive year.

“I am very proud to be a part of the process technology team at San Jacinto College,” said Kenneth Jackson, process technology instructor and troubleshooting coach. “I take pride in being someone who can bring out the best in my students. Winning three years in a row puts a target on our back, but I believe our students are up to the task.”

This is the first year, however, that the campus took two teams to compete, also placing fourth with their ‘Rockin’ Ravens’ team.

The ‘Rajun Ravens’ team of Matthew Hicks, William Petty, Edgar Rosales, Antonio Saldana, and coach Jackson beat out process technology teams from across the U.S. to gain the top spot in troubleshooting and resolving programs related to the petrochemical manufacturing environment.

“The competition was truly a collaborative effort,” said Petty, team captain. “Each of us were able to look at things in our own way and freely share our ideas. At the end, we were giving each other high fives, because we knew we had done well.”

The four-round finals competition tested the teams’ troubleshooting skills on recognizing and resolving problems with various energy industry-related scenarios, using computer-based simulation and virtual plant environment software. Students also got to meet with industry representatives at the Industry Networking Hour held prior to the finals competition.

Leading up to the event, they spent months training and preparing under the direction of San Jacinto College process technology faculty, with additional support from the college’s Corporate Training for Process Technology and Instrumentation.

“When we were practicing, Mr. Jackson was always making sure we knew why we were making certain moves,” said Edgar Rosales, team member. “We weren’t guessing at what we were doing, we were considering how every move we made would affect our next step.”

The 2020 NAPTA Troubleshooting Competition will be held at San Jacinto College in April.