For the past four years, Westfield Vocational Technical High School has been a member of SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit organization that serves students in over 17,000 public high school classrooms across the country. SkillsUSA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and is cited as a “successful model of employer-driven youth development training program” by the U.S. Department of Labor. WVTHS chose to be a part of Skills USA because its mission is to empower students to become world-class workers and responsible American Citizens. This mission is one that SkillsUSA and WVTHS share.
WVTHS membership in SkillsUSA continues to have a positive impact on our students and our school. With one hundred thirty trade, technical and skilled service occupational titles represented in the curriculum, SkillsUSA requires students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real life experiences in the construction, manufacturing, transportation, health sciences, information technology, communications, personal services, hospitality, public safety and engineering technology industries. SkillsUSA is so much more than just the trades; the curriculum also provides quality education experiences in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills while emphasizing high ethical standards, superior work skills, and life-long education. Student members of SkillsUSA meet regularly with elected student officers and faculty advisors to plan activities like community service events, and the showcase activity of the SkillsUSA organization, the SkillsUSA Championship.
Fifty Westfield Vocational Technical High School students representing our career technical programs competed in the district SkillsUSA competition on March 10, 2015. Several of our students earned bronze, silver, and gold medals. In Carpentry, Susan Mosijchuk received a Gold Medal and Dimitri Kostenko got the Silver. For Collision Repair Technology, Devon Doiron won the Gold Medal and Daniel Dazelle received a Bronze. In Computer Programming, Jacob O’Connor earned the Bronze and the Web Design team of Anthony Lafleur and Duffy Muller got the Silver Medal. In Customer Service, Mariya Babinova won the Silver Medal and in Industrial Motor Control, Tyler French earned the Bronze Medal. Allied Health students had a strong showing in the Medical Terminology competition with Veronika Goretskiy winning the Gold Medal and Anastasia Pascari earning the Silver. In Restaurant Service, Timothy Hallenbeck received the Bronze Medal and in Automotive Service Technology, Connor McClaflin earned a Bronze. Finally, Douglas Kapinos proved that he has the qualifications to be a candidate for SkillsUSA statewide office. Gold and Silver Medal winners advance to the State Leadership and Skills Conference from April 30 to May 2. At the state level, our remaining competitors will take part in hands on competition in front of a panel of judges. From there, students move on to the annual national level SkillsUSA Championships, where over 5,600 students compete in ninety-four occupational and leadership skill areas.
We wish the best of luck to Mariya Babinova, Devon Doiron, Veronika Goretskiy, Douglas Kapinos, Dimitri Kostenko, Anthony Lafleur, Susan Mosijchuk, Duffy Muller, and Anastasia Pascari at the State Leadership and Skills Conference. Ultimately, all fifty of our competitors deserve congratulations! I would also like to recognize Mrs. Maureen Baillargeon from our Allied Health Program and Mr. David Tefft in Automotive Technology for keeping our school involved in what has proven to be a series of valuable experiences for our students.
Stefan Czaporowski
Principal
Westfield Vocational Technical High School
