East Aurora Advertiser

Career & Technical Students Compete at State Competition


Hundreds of Career & Technical Education students converged on the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse to compete in the SkillsUSA State Competition in April. 

Fifteen students from two Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES (E2CCB) spanning 11 area school districts competed in several competitions with the best and brightest in their fields of study.

“I competed in the SkillsUSA Regional Competition at Alfred. That was nice because it was a little day trip,” Shane Peter of Iroquois, who competed in the carpentry competition, said. “The state competition is three days long, so it’s really fun…we compete, and in our downtime, we do some fun stuff.”

On day one, students gathered for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting to mark the start of the competition and heard from SkillsUSA State Officers. Competition on day two spanned multiple buildings on the fairgrounds, each with its own unique identity. Results were tabulated, and students were celebrated on the final day on April 29.

Tyler Huber of Iroquois is enrolled in the Computer Aided Design & Drafting program at the E2CCB Ormsby Educational Center in East Aurora.

Receiving honors for their work were students Tyler Schroeder of Lake Shore, Makayla Brisley and Micaya Burns of Brocton, who placed third in Welding Fabrication Team; Akira Smith of Cassadaga, who placed second in Cosmetology Junior; Hunter Keem of Springville who placed first in Welding Sculpture; Tyler Huber of Iroquois who placed first in Technical Drafting and Adam Pfleuger of Brocton, who was elected as NYS SkillsUSA Parliamentarian. As Parliamentarian, Adam oversees proper business procedure of all chapter meetings and serves as consultant and expert on parliamentary procedure using adapted resource materials.

“It feels like a real honor that my teacher believed in me and trusted me to come out here and compete with all of these kids from across the state,” Keem said, who designed and created a deer skull using his welding skills. “I’m going to Canisius for finance, but going through the Auto Body program and being able to fix my car or weld things around the house, it’s nice to do those things myself.”

First and second-place winners are invited to compete in the national competition to be held June 20-24 in Atlanta, Ga. 

For more information about CTE programming at E2CCB, visit www.e2ccb.org

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