The SkillsUSA Massachusetts 49th Annual State Leadership & Skills Conference was held at Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School (BVT) on April 28. SkillsUSA welcomed contestants across the Commonwealth, representing the talent pipeline for skilled trades, to test their occupational training in the Massachusetts SkillsUSA Championships Career Competitions, a showcase of talent for students enrolled in vocational, technical, and health education. 

 

It was the seventeenth consecutive year BVT had hosted the prestigious Olympic-style career competition, with thousands of students judged by business professionals according to industry and employment standards. The Massachusetts Secretary of Education, Mr. Patrick Tutwiler, visited the campus to experience the event. It was the first time he had visited the campus since his appointment to the position in January. 

The annual event was an impressive display of vocational-technical training at its finest. BVT had 128 students test their vocational-technical ability in 60 competitions with remarkable results: 25 Gold, 19 Silver and 18 Bronze for a total of 62 medals.

The gold medalists earn the right to represent SkillsUSA Massachusetts and compete with champions from all over the country at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, this June. The exception is the Cosmo under 500 and Safety Poster Design Team gold medalists who only compete at the state level and do not advance. However, Kallie Allen and the Safety Poster Design Team winners will serve as National Voting Delegates. The complete list of medalists is available at www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/skillsusa.

The BVT students who earned medals at the State Leadership & Skills Conference are listed alphabetically by hometown: 

MENDON

Gold: Naomi Tsuda, Baking and Pastry Arts.

Silver: Josh Blalock, Diesel Equipment Technology.

Bronze: Natalia Vazquez, Engineering Technology.

UPTON

Gold: Jacob Giancola, Robotics and Automation Tech; and Katelyn Steele, Related Technical Math.

Silver: Gillian Yordanopoulos (model), Esthetics.