Delaware’s participation in this skills competition has grown over the past decade. (Photo from SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference)
Twenty-one Vo-Tech high school students from Delaware placed in a national competition with more than 16,000 participants.
Delaware had 68 high schoolers compete in the 2024 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center the last week of June.
The winners were announced this week.
Students participated in events involving construction trades, video broadcasting, graphic arts, automotive trades and leadership skills.
For the first time, Delaware sent four students to act as delegates and participate in leadership training, advisory boards and national officer elections.
Six First Staters received top honors in three skill demonstration events:
- Clinton Bertollo of New Castle County Vocational Technical School District’s Delcastle Technical High School received a silver medal in sheet metal.
- Noelle Evans, also of Delcastle, received a bronze medal in screen printing technology.
- The team of Kiara Davis, McKinley Stokley, Ciara Gustin and Piper Drace from Sussex Technical School District’s Sussex Technical High School received a bronze medal for video news production.
Each event was created and judged by about 2,000 industry volunteers.
The National SkillsUSA Board of Directors recognized the First State for growing registration, which almost doubled from the 2023 school year.
More Delaware students participated this year than in more than a decade.
SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization that empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.
Its vision is to produce the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success.
The SkillsUSA National Championships are career competition events showcasing the best career and technical education students in the nation. Through an investment from business and industry partners of about $36 million, the event occupies a space equivalent to 31 football fields or 41 acres.
It’s also the end of a year-long process that begins in local SkillsUSA chapters across the country.
After the local winners advance to district or regional competitions, those subsequent winners advance to state competitions each spring, and state gold medalists earn the right to compete at the national competition.
Along with gold, silver and bronze medallions, competitors can earn scholarships, meet with industry experts and are even sometimes given job offers.
Here are the other winners:
Top 10 finishes
- Keller Merida-Vazquez , Delcastle Technical High School, industrial motor control
- Kaiden Brown , Delcastle Technical High School, aviation maintenance technology
- Marissa Prouse , POLYTECH School District’s POLYTECH High School, criminal justice
- Clinton Bertollo , Delcastle Technical High School, sheet metal
- Noelle Evans , Delcastle Technical High School, screen printing technology
- Kiara Davis , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- McKinley Stokley , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- Ciara Gustin , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- Piper Drace , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
Skill Point Achievement
- Clinton Bertollo , Delcastle Technical High School, sheet metal
- Noelle Evans , Delcastle Technical High School, screen printing technology
- Kiara Davis , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- McKinley Stokley , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- Ciara Gustin , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- Piper Drace , Sussex Technical High School, video news production
- Aiden Burtell , Delcastle Technical High School, audio-radio production
- Isabella Santillan-Guzman , Delcastle Technical High School, audio-radio production
- Rebekah Cullen , Sussex Technical High School, pin design
- Myonnah Henry , New Castle County Vocational Technical School District’s Paul M Hodgson Vo-Tech, nail care
- Antonia McCoy , Sussex Technical High School, crime scene investigation
- Mia Tritapoe , Sussex Technical High School crime scene investigation
- Sierra Walters , Sussex Technical High School, crime scene investigation
- Rebecca Norland , Polytech High School, television (video) production
- Lacie Vilone , Polytech High School, television (video) production
- Marissa Prouse , Polytech High School, criminal justice
- Dominick Shorter , Sussex Technical High School, automotive refinishing technology
- Austin Shreve , Paul M Hodgson Vo-Tech, plumbing
- Kimani Weston , Sussex Technical High School, t-shirt design
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