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March 22, 2019Hundreds of Area High School Students Compete in Regional Workplace Skills Competition
With parents, supporters and their teachers looking on, dozens of Capital Region BOCES students competed in the regional SkillsUSA competition.
The event – which was spread across the Stratton Air National Guard Base and SUNY Schenectady Community College campus – tested the students’ abilities in their chosen trades, which range from culinary to nursing to heavy equipment operator and more.
Winners of the event will be announced later this week; they advance to the state SkillsUSA competition to be conducted in Syracuse in April.
The annual regional event provides an opportunity for high school students from all across Eastern New York State to showcase their technical knowledge in a variety of career and technical education programs.
“It’s fun because you are learning to work under pressure, which is how it is in the workplace,” said Tim DeCelle of Cohoes, an auto body student at Capital Region BOCES.
“I have been looking forward to painting and showing them the skills I have developed for this career,” added classmate Greg Krosky of Scotia-Glenville, a fellow auto body competitor.
For culinary competitor Karee Hildreth of Schalmont, the regional event is all about building skills and experience.
“I competed at SkillsUSA because I want to gain as much experience as I can before I go to college,” said the Schalmont student who is an aspiring restaurant owner.
Capital Region BOCES Teacher Chris Shader said the regional competition is invaluable in terms of bringing like-minded students together to see how their skills match up against their peers, as well as giving the students an edge when they seek a job.
“An employer seeing that a student competed or won at SkillsUSA knows they are getting a quality employee,” said Shader, who previously oversaw a regional chair of auto body shops.
SkillsUSA is a national organization for career and technical education students. Besides hosting the local, regional, state and national competitions, the organization promotes personal and professional growth and offers students.
