Tech students reach national competition

LYNN – Before he strides across a stage in a month to accept his diploma, Lynn Vocational Technical Institute senior Kevin Gomes will stand on a national stage with junior Nelson Barrios as they show off their leadership and project-building skills.Their showing at last week?s SkillsUSA Massachusetts competition helped earn Tech the honor of being one of 24 SkillsUSA chapters among 13,000 across the nation picked to participate in SkillsUSA?s late June leadership conference in Kentucky.?A few years ago, we had seven kids involved. This year, we had 75. We have grown tremendously as a school,” said Tech English teacher and Skills advisor Jason McCuish.Gomes, Barrios and a handful of other students led a Tech team into the Massachusetts competition and won a gold medal, six silver medals and seven bronze medals.Tech junior Caitlyn Perez? accomplishments in the SkillsUSA “techspo” competition won her the gold medal. Barrios, Gomes and fellow student Samir Usuman were given eight minutes during last week?s competition to explain to three judges why their “No Hunger Games” project merited recognition. They won a silver medal.?They talked about how, over six months, they helped to create 1,000 care packages,” McCuish said.McCuish will escort Barrios and Gomes to the Louisville competition and he said the pair need to begin preparing now to juggle final examinations even as they prepare for the finals.SkillsUSA Inc.?s website describes the organization as a partnership of educators, students and businesses working together to ensure the United States has a skilled workforce. McCuish described the organization?s competitions as “vocational Olympics” aimed at testing students? abilities to organize and carry out complex projects; public speaking and individual ability to craft specific projects.Gomes was among 30 students who took part in 2014?s SkillsUSA competition and brought back to Neptune Boulevard SkillsUSA honors, including the silver medal he won with Class of 2014 members Megan Hansen and Eric Villanueva.Gomes said the win created a buzz in Tech?s hallways.?It was a big deal. We hyped it up and got more kids to participate,” he said.Barrios, a Tech automotive technology student, said McCuish convinced him to participate in this year?s competition. He said the best part about the May 2 Marlborough competition was the chance to meet new people interested in the same trade he is pursuing.Lynn native McCuish has taught at Tech for 11 years and he said school efforts during the past four years to perform community service projects, including park bench repairs, playground cleanups and food pantry service, convinced him Tech could compete and win in SkillsUSA events.?I went in, guns blazing, last year. I recruited the entire football team to get involved,” he said.Senior Alen Cangalovic was one of the new recruits. He participated in a customer service skills competition requiring him to work his way through a mock customer complaint exchange.?I was the second to the last to compete. Everyone before me had a nervous face after they were done,” he said.When his fellow students heard Cangalovic won a bronze medal, “We all went crazy,” said Gomes.