Our Time is Now! Announcing the NYS SkillsUSA Champions

Autumn Ray, a Graphics Arts student from Mechanicville, won first place for Advertising Design. The Advertising Design competition tests technical skills and creative aptitude as though competitors worked for an ad agency. The creative portion involves the application of creative thinking and a design challenge. Layout, drawing and illustration skills are used, as well as the ability to create vibrant, effective designs using the computer.

Ava Stewart from Queensbury, Elizabeth McNutt and Francesca Lang, both from Warrensburg, and Angel Aratare from Fort Ann, won first place in the Entrepreneurship category. These students are from the ECCA Business and Entrepreneurship program, SUNY Adirondack Queensbury campus. The Entrepreneurship competition requires a team of four that tests students' knowledge in starting their own businesses by developing business plans that identify needed products or services in a local market. Teams give oral presentations based upon their written plans and the team must successfully answer questions by a team of judges in response to typical problems encountered by entrepreneurs during their first year of business.

First place students are eligible to represent WSWHE BOCES at the 2023 National Leadership and Skills Conference which will be held June 19-23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

WSWHE BOCES Students received second place awards in the following categories: American Spirit, Auto Vehicle Maintenance Basic, Automotive Service Technology, Customer Service, Food Preparation Assistant Basic, HVAC, Hydronic Heating and Nurse Assisting. 

Third place awards were given to students in the categories of Cake Decorating, Cosmetology (Senior) and Diesel Equipment Technology. 

Click here for the individual awards received at the competition.

SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit organization, is devoted to rewarding students for excellence, for involving industry in directly evaluating student performance, and for keeping career training relevant to employers’ needs. Click here to learn more about SkillsUSA. This year’s theme is “Our Time is Now” - inclusive of all SkillsUSA members and their collective preparedness and confidence in their skills and abilities.

For more photos, click here to visit a Google Drive photo album.