Student Choice Awards, selected by the East Liverpool High School sophomore class participants, were awarded to the 1st Place Team of Landscaping. Team members include Grant Wright, Chandler Fitch and Alanna McGonigal. (Submitted photo)

EAST LIVERPOOL — East Liverpool Career and Technical Education (CTE) students Grant Wright, Chandler Fitch and Alanna McGonigal will represent East Liverpool Schools at the State SkillsUSA Competition to be held in Columbus, Ohio May 5-6.

“SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization serving teachers and high school and college students preparing for careers in trade, technical, and skilled service occupations. The organization provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, and community service,” a media release from the East Liverpool School District said.

The CTE students recently put their creative and professional skills on display when they participated in the Annual SkillsUSA Promotional Bulletin Board Contest where they had to include the SkillsUSA national theme for this year of No Limits along with representing the competition’s values, mission and their skills.

The CTE students had to compete with their bulletin boards between the different CTE trades. The contest determined which team would represent the district at the state SkillsUSA competition.

“The competition encourages students to design and present bulletin boards that visually represent the values, mission, and theme of SkillsUSA–an organization that empowers students to become world-class workers, leaders, and responsible citizens,” the district’s media release said.

The bulletin boards were judged by the sophomore class participants for the student choice award and by a panel of industry professionals who looked for excellence in creativity, presentation and alignment with the annual theme.

The Student Choice Awards went to Landscaping with first place, Early Childhood Education with second place and Cosmetology taking third place.

The industry judge winners were Early Childhood Education for first place and representation at state, Patient Care with second place and Public Safety for third place.

Students for the Patient Care team were Kayleigh Ansell, Kailey Davidson, and Kaylyn Lamp and students on the Public Safety team were Addison Buchheit, Hadley Dobbins, and Jaymon Browning.

“This competition is a perfect blend of creativity, teamwork, and communication,” said SkillsUSA Advisor Nicole Dozier. “It gives our students a real-world opportunity to represent their programs while gaining valuable experience in collaboration, design, and public speaking.”

Mariah said the contest taught her how to be a leader and work as a team, while Sabrina said it taught her the importance of being a professional and interacting as such in front of large groups of people and Chance said it made him more confident in speaking in front of people.

Mariah described winning the contest as extremely rewarding and experience she will never forget.

“I’m honored that I had the opportunity to represent the Early Childhood program,” Mariah sad.

Sabrina said on winning that “All of the anxiety leading up to it was worth it. We were really proud of all the hard work we put in.”

Chance said once they were done, they were proud of each other and it didn’t matter to them if they won or not.

“We knew we already accomplished the hardest part, which was presenting the board to 150 sophomores and completing the interview process with the judges,” Chance said.

When asked how they felt about competing against other CTE teams, Mariah said she felt anxious because she wasn’t sure what to expect, but once the interview started her built up anticipation disappeared.

Sabrina described the experience seeing the other teams’ boards as nerve wracking because they knew it was going to be a tough competition.

Chad said it made him nervous seeing the differences in the all the boards, but he knew the amount of work they put in would pay off.

The district’s media release said “Superintendent Jonathan Ludwig praised the students’ efforts, noting that “our Career Tech programs continue to reflect the strength and pride of East Liverpool City Schools–preparing students for success in college, careers, and beyond.”