Lynn Tech students awarded for community service

LYNN – Lynn Vocational Technical Institute students came home winners, picking up a Gold Standard Award and a silver medal during the state’s SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference.”We only missed the gold (medal) by two points,” said LVTI’s SkillsUSA Advisor Jason McCuish.McCuish, along with three students, Kevin Gomes, Megan Hansen and Eric Villanueva, traveled to Marlborough over the weekend where they presented a community service project in the statewide competition.At the opening ceremony, LVTI was awarded a Gold Standard Award for its community service efforts, McCuish said. He said the award recognized the school’s strong commitment to the community, which includes volunteering at the Connery School-based food pantry, creating care packages for the Lynn Shelter Association, as well as work done last year on its Park Renovations Project, to name a few.In addition, Gomes, Hansen and Villanueva took home the silver medal in a separate community service competition, McCuish added.While Gomes, Hansen and Villanueva made a presentation before a panel of judges and picked up a medal for their efforts, they were not the only winners. McCuish said Kera Warren, a senior in the culinary shop who created a cake for the TECHSPO event, which puts a spotlight on students’ vocational talents, also won an award.”Warren created a cake for the competition with a ?Boston Strong’ theme and was awarded a second place ribbon,” McCuish said. “Also receiving a second place ribbon and recognition in the TECHSPO event was pre-engineering senior, Dennis Hernandez, who made an umbrella holder for outdoor use designed on Autodesk Inventor software and manufactured in a 3-D printer.”Asa Anderson and Nicholas Weston, sophomores, also received an award for an innovative pencil sharpener.It was Gomes, Hansen and Villanueva, however, along with McCuish, who will travel to Kansas City in June to receive the President’s Award for Volunteer Service at the National SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference.”They worked hard for this,” McCuish said.