ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
David Barrios, left, Erick Martinez, and Ashley Pimentel were three of the eight Skills USA students from Lynn Vocational Technical Institute that went to Kentucky over the weekend and helped the team win first place in Chapter Model of Excellence, out of a field of 30,000 clubs, and a gold medal for community service face their fellow students at an assembly today.
By PAUL HALLORAN
The Lynn Tech team was already in elite company heading into last week’s SkillsUSA Championships in Louisville, Ky., as one of 24 chapters nationwide to be recognized as a Model of Excellence. As it turned out, that was only the beginning.
Tech students and faculty cheered the eight Tech SkillsUSA participants Monday, two days after the students and advisor Jason McCuish received a hero’s welcome home after striking gold twice in the national competition.
The Tech chapter earned the title of National Outstanding Chapter of Excellence for placing first in the category of developing leadership skills, while three students won the gold medal in the community service competition.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment,” said McCuish, an English teacher who took over the SkillsUSA chapter at Tech two years ago. “It’s like winning the Super Bowl.”
The 24 Models of Excellence chapters competed in three categories in Louisville. Recent graduate Ashley Pimentel and rising junior Edward Cuevas delivered a 10-minute presentation and were interviewed by a panel of five judges, McCuish said.
Recent graduate Jose Najera, junior David Barrios and senior Erick Martinez made the winning presentation in the community service competition, detailing the three major projects undertaken this year: Raising almost $9,000 for My Brother’s Table, recognizing first responders on Sept. 11, and holding a dinner for local veterans.
“It’s the equivalent of the Olympics,” McCuish said of the national competition sponsored by SkillsUSA, a national program to improve quality of the workforce through leadership and employability training. More than 335,000 students and advisors participated in SkillsUSA this year, including 75 at Tech.
Also competing in Louisville were recent graduate Marissa Colon, senior Lucia Gonzalez and junior Megan Molea.
“We are extremely proud of these students, who represent the best of what Lynn Tech has to offer,” Principal Robert Buontempo said. “They have worked extremely hard to get to this level, and we congratulate them and Mr. McCuish.”
In addition to receiving a police escort back to Tech from the city limits Saturday afternoon, the students were recognized at an assembly Monday, about an hour before school let out for the summer.
“It has never been more important to offer a high-quality vocational and technical education,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Catherine C. Latham said. “Lynn Tech has been trending up the last few years and this is the latest achievement of which we can all be proud.”
