Phoenix Challenge Foundation announces dates for 2009 competition

The 12th annual High School Phoenix Challenge Flexo Skills Competition 2009 will take place April 1-3 at the Harper National Flexographic Center (HNFC). The HNFC is located on the campus of Central Piedmont Community college in Charlotte, North Carolina. The College Phoenix Challenge will be held May 2, in conjunction with the FFTA Forum in Orlando, Florida.

The Annual Phoenix Challenge Competition is an energetic two-day event designed to heighten the awareness of flexography among students and teachers across the educational system, both domestically and internationally. The contest consists of a variety of skills tests including flexo print knowledge, pre-press, plate making, critical math skills and hands-on printing techniques. Students compete in teams for the top seat in the Flexo Challenge and can walk away with thousands of dollars in scholarship funds and the ‘Harper Trophy Cup’ to display at their school for the following year. The competition continues to grow year after year and has attracted students all across North America. This year’s competition includes twenty teams with forty students participating. Along with the students, eighteen teachers will attend workshops on flexo.

Bettylyn Krafft, chairperson of The Phoenix Challenge Foundation, said: ‘The Phoenix Challenge Flexo Skills Competition is a great forum to promote flexo to our youth, and to provide them a great career path in a fun, interactive and challenging way.  The Foundation continues to make our future flexographers a priority, but not without the support and funding from the entire industry. We can’t do it without them.’

To make this event a success and the Phoenix Challenge Foundation all a possibility, the organization depends on the generous support of industry suppliers, converters and organizations. The Phoenix Challenge Foundation is an organization of industry professionals who are dedicated to encouraging today's youth in exploring the career opportunities available to them through the flexographic printing industry. The Foundation exists solely through donations made by the flexographic industry to cover operating expenses, scholarships, and to support the Phoenix Challenge Flexo Skills Competition.

Past sponsors of the Phoenix Challenge Foundation include: All Printing Resources, Anderson & Vreeland, Anagram, Benton Graphics, Cage Graphics, Canadian Flexographic Training Committee, CL & D Labels, E. I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., ECONO Products, Harper Corporation of America, Howard B. Vreeland, Jr., Howard B. Vreeland, Sr (in memory of Alice T. Vreeland), Jet USA, JR Cole Industries, Krafft Printing Systems, Mark Andy, Parks Printing, PICA (Printing Industries of the Carolina), Raflatac, Southern Graphics, The Charlotte Observer, and Water Ink Technologies.

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