Career technical students from PRHS took home gold medals in 23 of 79 occupational contests at the SkillsUSA Region 2 Conference hosted on campus on Feb. 4, 2017. Twenty one high schools and one middle school–roughly 635 students–descended from SLO County and the central valley for judged competitions of job-related presentations, speeches, and “hard skills” technical tasks. Almost 30% of the contests were won by PRHS students.
“It’s game time,” SkillsUSA Director Randy Canaday told judges. He was referring to the preparation and performance of students from the 16 career technical pathways offered at PRHS.
PRHS’s gold and silver medalists will advance to compete at state competition in San Diego on April 20-23 and the national level if they win a state gold medal. Over 150 people volunteered at the Saturday regional to judge, prepare lunch, and advise contestants.
Daniel Lewis Middle School was the district’s first middle school to compete in SkillsUSA and brought home a gold, silver, and bronze in the Mobile Robotics Technology contest.
State assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, who attended the event, is working to make CTE funding and instruction a permanent state fixture.
Photos by Emily Mowery, Environment editor
