South Meck’ triumphs
in student flexo contest
South Mecklenburg High School, Charlotte, NC, won top honors at the recent International Phoenix Challenge High School Flexo Skills Competition, held at the Harper National Flexographic Center at Central Piedmont Community College.
“South Meck” was the pilot program for the FFTA Flexo In High School Program, initiated in September 1992 with the installation of a new Mark Andy three color 830 flexo press. This is the school’s eleventh year participating in the program and its sixth year in the annual competition.
Bettylyn Krafft, chairman of the Phoenix Challenge Foundation, said that even though South Meck lost their original press to the new technical high school in Charlotte this year, teacher Leigh Ayers didn’t give up. She arranged for her senior students to operate Mark Andy presses at the college and the Flexographic Trade School, both located in Charlotte.
Mark Andy, CL&D Graphics, the FFTA and Harper recently announced that they will install new Mark Andy 830 three-color flexo presses at the school, as well as another in Watertown High School, Watertown, WI. Harper, the primary provider of funds for the presses, will supply free anilox rolls. Mark Andy provided a substantial educational discount on the presses, and CL&D Graphics, of Oconomowoc, WI, contributed $15,000 to the program.
Krafft reported a record number of 32 students from 11 high schools in the competition this year, a 50 percent increase in participants. Represented were schools from Asheville, NC; Charlotte; Columbia, SC; Holland, MI; Mississauga, ON; Rock Hill, SC; Teterboro, NJ; Williamston, SC; Winnsboro, SC, and York, PA. Twenty-two students competed last year.