Students win silver medals at NATIONAL SkillsUSA competition in Kentucky

Three Whittier students earned silver medals at the national SkillsUSA competition last week. Fifteen students attended the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky from June 24-28 after earning gold medals at the state competition in April.

“This was an exceptionally wonderful group of students,” said Skills Adviser Jane Moskevitz. “They really represented themselves, their families and Whittier. Just to make it to nationals, to be the best in the state competition, is an accomplishment.”

Marketing and Business Management juniors Halie Alsarabi and Megan Jegorow and senior Josmell Ramos, all of Haverhill earned silver medals for their project on Alzheimer's research.

Their project centered around a fundraising event Whittier held in March to raise money for the the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Hospital.

Marketing and Business Management students handled all the advertising for the event and tracked all the donations, explaining to judges how the project positively impacted the school and the Alzheimer's community.

“They really stated a good case for how much of a pandemic Alzheimer's Disease is and represented the research well,” said Moskevitz.

Health Occupations students senior Allasandra Thompson, of Haverhill, sophomore Vitoria Paiva, of Merrimac, and senior Larissa Havey, of Amesbury in the Career Pathways Showcase for Health Services narrowly missed earning a medal after going five seconds over the time limit. Their project, which earned fourth place, also focused on Alzheimer research and the event in March, along with their Music and Memoryprogram.

Design & Visual Communications students Senior Rhina Tiburcio, of Haverhill, junior Seda Tuncok, of Haverhill, and junior Zachary DePaolo, of Newburyport placed sixth out of 36 teams for their 2018 animated yearbook in the Career Pathways Showcase for Arts & Communication.

"SkillsUSA is an amazing experience for students, who get to showcase their creativity and learn from their peers throughout the country," said Superintendent Lynch, who attended the national competition this year. "The competition is the Super Bowl of vocational trades and we look forward to coming back next year!"