Somerset County Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (from L-R) Rima Amin, Varun Punnam, Abiram Gangavaram, Omar Khasawneh, Evan Sapirman and Mona Marhaba.
Forty-four students from eight county vocational technical high schools in New Jersey took home prizes at the national SkillsUSA Championships, the largest hands-on student skill competition in the world.
Students from Cumberland County Regional Technical Education Center, Gloucester County Institute of Technology, Mercer County Technical Schools, Morris County School of Technology, Passaic County Technical Institute, Somerset County Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Somerset County Vocational-Technical High School, Sussex County Technical School and Warren County Technical School received medals during the competition held in June 26-27 in Louisville, KY, during the 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference,
Some 6,000 students from across the country competed in the 102 occupational and leadership skills competitions. Each contestant is a state competition medalist.
The SkillsUSA Championship is the nation’s largest workforce development event for middle-school, high-school and college/postsecondary students enrolled in public career and technical education programs. It is considered the largest skill competition in the world and the single largest day of industry volunteerism in America.
Somerset County Academy of Health and Medical Sciences took home the most hardware, with six gold medals in customer service, health knowledge bowl, medical terminology bowl, quiz bowl as well as career pathway competitions for business, management and technology, and health services.
In addition, Pratima Patil, a health science instructor from the Academy for Health and Medical Sciences, was recognized with SkillsUSA’s Outstanding Career and Technical Educator award. She was one of only five teachers in the nation to receive the recognition.
Sussex County Technical School took home two gold medals in the health occupations professional portfolio and technical computer applications and earned a silver in electronics technology.
Gloucester County Institute of Technology won a gold medal in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration and two silver medals in chapter business procedure and extemporaneous speaking.
Passaic County Technical Institute won a gold medal in related technical math and a silver in early childhood education.
Mercer County Technical Schools took home two bronze medals in the career pathways – natural resources-agriculture-food category and for building maintenance.
Somerset County Vocational-Technical High School won a silver medal for first aid-CPR while Cumberland County Technical Education Center, Morris County School of Technology and Warren County Technical School each took home a bronze.
