BOCES Career & Technical Education students from the Charles H. Bohlen, Jr. Technical Center in Watertown recently competed in the New York State SkillsUSA Leadership & Skills Championships held April 27-29 in Syracuse. Seventeen students won meals in seven categories.
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. It is a national membership organization serving middle-school, high-school and college/post-secondary students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. Chapters are located locally at both the Charles H. Bohlen, Jr. Technical Center in Watertown and at the Howard G. Sackett Technical Center in Glenfield.
Each year, Career & Technical Education students from across New York State gather to compete against each other in various events involving trade skills, ranging from carpentry to computers. These are skills that employers are looking for when hiring. The judges in many of these competitions are those who work in that specific field or trade.
Winning first place gold medals this year were Emma Shoemaker (Visual Communications) of Watertown in the Photography competition, Sheldon Spencer (Plumbing/HVAC) of Belleville Henderson in the Plumbing competition, Jason Hubbard (Plumbing/HVAC) of Carthage for the Hydronic Heating competition, and Aubry Stewart (Cosmetology) of Carthage, Emily Smith (Cosmetology) of South Jefferson, Mei-Lin Corron (Cosmetology) of Belleville Henderson, Taja Collins (Cosmetology) of Carthage, and Heaven DeJesus (Cosmetology) of Watertown in the Cosmetology Quiz Bowl competition.
Emma and Sheldon will attend and represent New York State at the SkillsUSA National Championships June 20-25 in Atlanta, GA. The other first place finishers were in competitions that are not offered at the Nationals.
Winning second place silver medals this year were Abagail Keeney (New Vision Health) of South Jefferson in the First Aid and CPR competition, and Chase Gould (Electrical Wiring Tech.) of South Jefferson, Penelope Brown (Visual Communications) of Watertown, Ryan Rogers (Criminal Justice) of South Jefferson, Trey Zehr (Electronic & Computer Tech.) of Lyme, Sixto Quiles (Plumbing/HVAC) of Watertown, Sara Thorp (Criminal Justice) of Sackets Harbor, and Gabrielle Williams (Criminal Justice) of Alexandria in the Quiz Bowl Competition.
Winning a third place bronze medal was Kendra Marshall (Criminal Justice) of Indian River in the Employment Application Process competition.
