Placements for SkillsUSA were announced March 2, sending 22 students to the state competition for a variety of categories. Students are able to participate in competitions that are involved in fields of expertise that they plan on pursuing in the future.

“I’m currently going to state for the law enforcement building search competition, along with the quiz bowl category,” sophomore Carson Tittle said. “My interest in law enforcement is definitely what kickstarted me joining Skills. I never knew I could take the things I had learned in that class and actually compete with them, and I think it’s great.”

There’s a wide variety of different categories that students can compete in, typically related to different careers.

“Skills has always been a prominent topic of conversation around the CTE Hall due to the fact that it’s a way for us to represent our school in the different fields that they offer,” junior Luis Lopez said. “One day, a couple of representatives from the club came to talk to the classes about Skills and how you can join it, and I took them up on that offer.”

These competitions typically allow students to experience situations like those that they will experience in the future.

“I am going to state for Crime Scene Investigations,” junior Thearika Beversdorf said. “I am interested in gaining a confidence level that will be useful in a Professional situation.”

To qualify for state, students had to participate in different tests and score well to move on.

“The first comp is just a test, so for that I was studying as much as I could,” said Tittle. “For state however, my building search partner, John Adams, and I have been going through proper dispatch, search, and arrest procedures.”

Students prepared in a variety of ways, from quizzing themselves to putting themselves in real world, applicable situations.

“We practice at home skills specific to us individually that will better assist us in the contest,” Beversdorf said. “For instance, I take a camera home and practice taking pictures in the correct order because that is what I will be doing in the contest, as well as some other things like writing the scenario of what my group and I think happened.”

Students will compete virtually at state later this month in their various categories. 

“I’m excited to finally get to compete against real people in what we signed up for,” Lopez said.