HOULTON — Blue flashes of light, showering sparks, buzzing saws, pounding hammers and the ever so quiet hum of computers. It was competition time Wednesday at the Region II, Southern Aroostook Vocation Education center.

About two dozen students in the building trades, drafting, welding and forestry programs at SAVE spent the better part the day honing their skills and demonstrating what they had learned.

The vocation education center serves pupils in five school districts that serve three counties: SAD 14 in Danforth; SAD 25, Sherman Station; SAD 29, Houlton; SAD 70, Hodgdon; and Southern Aroostook Community School, Dyer Brook.

Wednesday’s contests in Houlton marked the first step in the Vocational Industrial Club of America competition that could ultimately take some of the group to national championships this summer in Kansas City, Mo.

VICA is an organization for trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students. In addition to trade skills, it also offers leadership, citizenship and character development programs.

“I’m always surprised when our group goes down to the state [competition],” said drafting instructor Greg Howes, as he watched four of his students use computer-aided drafting and design programs to lay out some building plans.

He noted that last year one member of his group received a silver medal and another got a bronze in the competition.

“By exposure to this, they’re going to get a taste for [the state meet],” he said.

Meanwhile, in another part of the building, three students in the welding program were trying to demonstrate how well they could weld. Was their work strong? Was it neat? Did they follow instructions?

Following instructions is important, as one student in the building trades competition found out. Each participant was given a certain amount of lumber with which to complete a given assignment. They had to follow a specific plan which included framing a wall, a window and a roof truss.

One student built an extra perpendicular wall to the main wall. He had to take it apart, but that left him short on lumber for what he needed to complete the project.

“You’ve heard of the thrill of victory and agony of defeat,” said program instructor Paul Stewart. “That could have cost him his job [in the real world.]”

In addition to the quality of their work, participants in the welding, logging and building trades program were also judged on the methods they used to accomplish the assigned task and their use of proper safety procedures and equipment.

Despite mistakes that were made, the process was viewed as a positive one by instructors who were supervising the event.

“Everybody’s a winner today,” said SAVE Director Paul Crandall. “There are no losers here.”

He said that even students with no involvement in the vocational programs dropped by throughout the morning to see what was going on. Many of them, he said, left with a new interest in the courses offered. Some of them expressed an interest in signing up for courses next year, he said.