Eleven of 24 local students competing at the 55th Annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference and Championships in Louisville, KY, placed in the top 10. From the Frederick County Public Schools’ Career and Technology Center (CTC), they excelled at the annual event, which more than 6,500 students attended from across the nation and U.S. territories.
Achieving fourth place nationwide were Makala Harrison in Basic Healthcare and Brandon Spilis in Technical Drafting. Placing sixth nationwide was Keegan Coolidge in First Aid/CPR. Earning seventh place nationwide was the team of Rachel Burns, Misael Marin and Julian Wresche in the Industrial and Engineering Technology Career Pathways Showcase. Achieving eighth nationwide was the team of Billy Higgins, Emily Jacob, Lucas Senesi and Lilly Stephens in Broadcast News Production. And placing ninth nationwide was Haleigh Tucker in Medical Assisting.
The 24 student competitors had already won local, regional and state competitions. In addition to those named above, the following teams and individuals represented Maryland and earned recognition for outstanding achievement: Jonathan Henry and Ian Kline in Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue, Grace Neff and Ryan Vu in Additive Manufacturing, Braylan Dodson and Sophia Ferrer in Web Design, Jake Baker and Aaron Subehan in Digital Cinema Production, Jackson Larimore, Nathan Nardini, Anthony Reyna and Rohan Uk in Entrepreneurship, and Kaila Tom in Architectural Drafting.
For the second year in a row, Dalton Wine served as a Maryland voting delegate. Jacob Leftwich performed multimedia production activities as a National SkillsUSA intern.
The FCPS Career and Technology Center offers 26 career preparatory programs, most open to students in grades 10-12 who have demonstrated good attendance and met other requirements. Most require two years, and many prepare students for national and state certification and offer college credits. FCPS posts details online at edu.fcps.org/ctc.
Many CTC students participate in SkillsUSA programs that help them develop and demonstrate personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. SkillsUSA championships include 100 occupational and leadership skill areas, establishing industry standards for entry-level workers in many fields. The U.S. Department of Labor cites SkillsUSA as a successful model of an employer-driven youth development program and a vital solution to the growing U.S. skills gap.
At the national level, more than 600 business, industry and labor organizations support SkillsUSA through financial aid, in-kind contributions and involvement in SkillsUSA activities. Support to the SkillsUSA Championships is valued at more than $36 million. More than 345,000 students and advisors join SkillsUSA annually, organized into 19,000 chapters and 52 state and territorial associations. This includes 20,900 instructors who join as professional members. Including alumni, SkillsUSA has served more than 13.5 million annual members cumulatively since 1965.
For more information about the FCPS Career and Technology Center and SkillsUSA, please contact Principal Michael.Concepcion@fcps.org or Assistant Principal Jack.Newkirk@fcps.org at 240-236-8500. For more about the competition please visit http://www.skillsusa.org/.
Left to right,
front row:
Kaila Tom, Rachel Burns, Sophia Ferrer
second row:
Keegan Coolidge, Emily Jacob, Grace Neff, Makala Harrison, Lilly Stephens
third row:
Aaron Subehan, Ryan Vu, Rohan Uk, Lucas Senesi
fourth row:
Braylan Dodson, Julian Wresche, Brandon Spilis, Dalton Wine
fifth row:
Jonathan Henry, Misael Marin, Jake Baker, Billy Higgins
back row:
Ian Kline, Nathan Nardini, Anthony Reyna, Haleigh Tucker, Jackson Larimore
Not pictured: Jacob Leftwich