Forty students from Dutchess BOCES’ Career & Technical Institute (CTI) are ready to compete in the New York State SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Championships April 22-24 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. This year marks the largest number of students ever attending.
Five SkillsUSA advisers will join these intrepid students on the bus up to the big event. SkillsUSA unites students from varied trades with a common purpose to become skilled professionals, career-ready learners and responsible community members.
Second-year Culinary student Ballery Vargas will participate in the cake writing portion of the Baking and Pastry Arts competition. She decided to tackle this particular area of cake decorating to step out of her comfort zone and worked hard in the days leading up the competition to get the phrase “Happy 16th Birthday” perfect on a practice cake.
“I am a bit of a perfectionist; this is also my first time ever writing on a cake, so I want to do it right,” Vargas said. “I went full in and really tried to create something that I’m proud of … I’m hoping to gain more experience.”
SkillsUSA always interested Vargas, who is partial to Dominican cake, and decided to join it for the first time this year to hone in on her culinary skills and make professional connections. She credits her teacher, Chef Amanda Scoca for her guidance in getting this far.
“If Chef wasn’t here, this wouldn’t have happened … I tell her that all the time,” Vargas said. “I wanted to go out with a blast.”
Second-year Construction Trades student Noel Soto will work with HVAC student Erik Berg and Electrical student Maxx Deane in the Team Works category using all of their respective skills to build a house. He descried the experience of being able to compete in the state competition as unreal.
“It’s crazy, I can’t even believe it,” Soto said. “We’ve had a lot of meetings to get us together and make sure we know what we’re doing.”
Networking is just one of the many skills Soto picked up during his time with SkillsUSA and noted that while it is always nice to win, just attending the competition is a worthwhile experience. He recommends future SkillsUSA students simply enjoy their time at the varied competitions.
“Just go to have fun, I wouldn’t even worry about the awards,” Soto said. “I got to experience different things, which is great.”
Good luck to everyone participating!
