A team of students from Bismarck State College (BSC) took first place in a regional competition through the International Society of Automation (ISA).

Five students from the Instrumentation & Control program at BSC participated in the ISA district 6 Competition held on April 8 at Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Ill. The BSC students competed in two categories – an analog competition and a discrete competition. The analog competition required the students to design a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) program, configure a flow transmitter, and calibrate a control valve.  In the discrete competition, the students had to design and wire a control circuit and bread board circuit. The BSC team won the discrete side of the competition, setting them up to advance to a final Jeopardy-style round, where they won again.

“The students representing BSC at this competition did an excellent job and showed how the applications and lab requirements they continuously practice and complete throughout the I&C curriculum meet industry standards,” says Vance Vesey, BSC Assistant Professor of Instrumentation & Control Technology.

“The overall experience was great!  It was awesome that we were able to win first place but the overall experience was priceless.  I felt like we were well prepared because of what we have learned throughout the I&C program,” says Colbie Fandrich, BSC student.

Seven teams participated in the event.  Others schools represented were North Dakota State College of Science, Joliet Junior College, Northwest Iowa Community College, and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College.