Wisconsin students are two-time Phoenix Challenge champs

The competition was held on April 8 at the CCPP Harper Campus in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Phoenix Challenge Foundation, or PCF, encourages flexographic education to expose students to the flexographic industry as potential careers and gives leaders in the field the opportunity to support their advancement.

The PCF conducts two yearly flexographic-related competitions: one for colleges and universities, and the other for high schools and vocational schools in the United States and Canada. The high school competition is a team-based skills competition that tests both knowledge and hands-on abilities across five areas. Each team takes the FTA level 1 operators certification and a printing mathematics test followed by exhibiting skills in prepress, plate making, and a 90-minute two-color die cut press run.

Nearly 60 students and educators traveled to Charlotte for the competition. Their skills were judged by a panel of industry professionals and educators. Tony Donato, Product Development Engineer at Harper and Board Member for the Phoenix Challenge Foundation, presented the Diann Teague Award to Waukesha’s flexo instructor Dina Vees for the excellent training of her winning students.

Travel, accommodations, materials, scholarships, and more were funded by the Phoenix Challenge Foundation and its industry business partners.