BATON ROUGE, LA.  - Students from Louisiana's Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) had a strong showing last week during the National SkillsUSA Championships, bringing home six gold, one silver and three bronze medals. A total of 57 Students from eight LCTCS colleges participated in the invitation-only competition after qualifying during the regional SkillsUSA competition in April.

The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Louisville, KY, is the largest skill competition in the world. The competition has been a premier event for high school and college-level students who are members of SkillsUSA since 1967. This year, the competition took place June 26-27 as part of the SkillsUSA 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. During the week, more than 6,400 outstanding career and technical education students competed in hands-on contests across 103 different trade, technical and leadership fields.

"We are proud of the effort displayed by our student competitors at the SkillsUSA National Championships," said Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. "This competition allows students to put into practice what they learn in our classrooms and labs. The categories and the programs we offer are aligned with statewide labor demands and are at the core of what our colleges do every day, which is preparing students for the workforce and real-life experiences in a competitive environment."

During the national competition, students worked against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in areas such as electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts. All contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. In addition, leadership contestants demonstrated their skills, which included extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure.

Top student winners received gold, silver and bronze medallions. Many also received prizes such as tools of their trade and/or scholarships to further their careers and education. 

High scorers in the contests received Skill Point Certificates in 72 occupational and leadership areas defined by industry. 

More information about individual contests can be found at www.skillsusa.org/events-training/national-leadership-and-skills-conference/press-kit/ under "resources" and add your own description here.

 

About SkillsUSA

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry to strengthen our nation's skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life, while helping to close the "skills gap" in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA's championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA's new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has more than 360,000 annual members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. For more information: www.skillsusa.org

                                       

Gold Medalists

Paul Vu (Related Technical Math) 
Bossier Parish Community College

Vivian Barrileaux and Chance DeCuir (Television/Video Production) 
SOWELA Technical Community College

Austin Rains (Advertising Design) 
SOWELA Technical Community College

Sydney Green (Prepared Speech) 
Bossier Parish Community College

Emily Barmore, Daniel Foots, Christopher Hale, and Sara Patterson (Broadcast News Production) 
Bossier Parish Community College

Cody Retiz and Hannah Retiz (Community Action Project) 
Bossier Parish Community College

 

Silver Medalist

Justine Phillips (Medical Math) 
Central Louisiana Technical Community College

 

Bronze Medalists

Alexander Richardson (T-shirt design) 
Bossier Parish Community College

Juan Flores (Principles of Engineering and Technology) 
Bossier Parish Community College

Jeffery Floyd, Justine Zerangue, and Sierra Neugent (Crime Scene Investigation) SOWELA Technical Community College

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