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WAHS Senior Headed to National SkillsUSA Competition

District Wide

April 18, 2023 | Career & Technical Education

2023 SkillsUSA State Competitors and Winners

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (APRIL 18, 2023) — Among the 14 Williamsport Area High School students who competed in the 2023 SkillsUSA State Championships in Hershey last week, one is set to compete at the national level.    

Senior Elizabeth Ryder placed first in the Basic Health Care category, earning her a spot at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Ga., in June.

 According to the SkillsUSA website, competitors in the basic health care category “demonstrate their knowledge and ability to perform entry-level procedures or skills based on the following list of core standards: academic foundations, communication skills, career opportunity concepts and systems, employability and team-working, ethical and legal issues and safety practices.” Their performance is “evaluated through various stations involving skills testing as well as written and verbal assessments.”

 “SkillsUSA provides a tremendous opportunity for students to compete in a highly competitive arena,” said Matt Fisher, WAHS’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) director. “We are very proud of our state qualifiers. These students are an exceptional representation of the caliber of students engaging in CTE at WAHS. Congratulations to Elizabeth, James and Carter on an outstanding accomplishment.”

 According to the SkillsUSA, more than 6,500 state contest winners “will compete hands-on in 110 different trade, technical and leadership fields. Students work against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations such as electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts. Contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. Leadership contestants will demonstrate skills including extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure.”

 This will be the second consecutive year a WAHS senior has gone on to compete nationally. Last year, 2022 grad Raymond Hartman competed in the Medical Math category.

 While not moving onto the national round, two seniors took second place in their respective categories: James Inwright in Advertising Design and Carter Weaver in Medical Math.

 Other WAHS contestants who competed at the state event in their respective categories were: Chandra Apker, T-shirt Design; Evan Beiter, Early Childhood Education; Owen Bower, Telecommunications Cabling; Dominic Flory, Culinary Arts; Tommy Foster, Pin Design; Kristen Goodman, Electrical Construction Wiring; and Noah McKenzie, Information Technology Service. Samantha Carpenter, Makaylah Johnson, Leo Miller and Laila Robertson competed in the Health Knowledge Bowl.

 “SkillsUSA is a national student organization that develops employability, participatory and leadership skills to complement the occupational skills developed by students in technical education classrooms or work-based learning sites,” according to its website. “SkillsUSA is an integral part of approved technical education occupation programs.”  

 WAHS has 15 workforce development courses made available to students through the its Career and Technical Education program. 

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