Far too often, students are interested in a particular career field, but do not get to experience the very specific skills required to do that job.

SkillsUSA is a way for a student in a Career and Technology Education class who is interested in a career to get real-world experience in that field. SkillsUSA is committed to preparing students for their futures.

Founded in 1965, SkillsUSA is an organization dedicated to preparing students for the world of work, and ensuring that America has a skilled future workforce. April 5-8, students from all across the 13 districts in Texas participated in the annual state competition for Texas.

In total, over 6,000 SkillsUSA members were present in Corpus Christi. Among them were 17 Wylie East students and their advisor, Mr. David Lanman. Each student competed in either a technical test, designed to test the professional knowledge of students, or in a hands-on competition displaying skills. If students placed first at district competition, they were able to compete in the hands-on competition.

“I am most proud of this SkillsUSA group for their leadership ability and to stay focused on their goals,” Lanman said.

Seniors Afrida Tasnim, Kelley Chu, Tyler Lambert and juniors Nikki Sibala, Wesley Craig, Alex Vega won second place and a silver medal against 23 other teams in the Chapter Business Procedure contest. They demonstrated to judges how to run a proper business meeting.

“It was amazing. You’re just sitting there anxiously waiting for the announcer to call your competition, and it just hits you. It took me by surprise, and took my breath away. Truly one of the greatest feelings,” Craig said.

Seniors McKenna Steiner, Haley Proctor and Rebecca Wright placed gold at district, earning them a spot to compete at state in crime scene investigation. This competition consisted of photographing the scene, sketching and scaling, and collecting and marking evidence. The team fell short of placing and will receive their final scores in the coming weeks.

“The best part about CSI this year was being able to try something new and succeeding at it. I learned a lot about myself and CSI, which will aid in my future in law enforcement,” Wright said.

In March, senior Shelana Arif earned gold at district competition for her pin design. She updated her model, and prepared a five-minute speech explaining how it represented SkillsUSA as a whole, for state competition. Arif’s project fell short of placing and will receive her score in the coming weeks.

Senior Kaira Baker, juniors Patrick Ellis, George Moslener and sophomore Dylan Ashley competed in Entrepreneurship after earning gold at district. The team had to put together an idea for a business, and give a presentation on what makes the business unique and the factors that would make the business profitable. Entrepreneurship fell short of placing and will receive their score in the coming weeks.

Steiner and Proctor also earned silver medals in their building search technical test exam. Sophomore Joel Campbell and junior Zachary Taylor earned bronze medals as well in their technical tests. The award ceremony was held at the Corpus Christi IceRays stadium.

“Standing on the podium, Looking out at the thousands of people, I felt important. All the work I put in had finally come to something, and standing there on that stage, I understood the value of effort,” Campbell said.

**update to story

At state:

CSI took fourth place out of 13 teams

Entrepreneurship placed fourth out of 20 teams

Senior Shelana Arif took sixth place out of 12 in computer programming and seven out of 20 in Pin Design.