Woodland High School’s SkillsUSA medal winners (left to right): Katelyn Paulson, Camila Avelar, Caleb Mouat and Brooke Schimmel
The SkillsUSA team of Woodland High School brought home a total of six medals in four categories from the 2019 State Conference in Yakima. SkillsUSA is a national program that offers high school students an opportunity to compete in 100 different workplace categories. Many categories focus on technical and professional workplace skills that include public speaking, culinary arts and more.
During the regional, state and national competitions, students compete in events that can include a combination of written and practical tests. The restaurant service competition took more than six hours and included a written test and practical test that included setting up the ‘front of house’ and sanitation requirements.
From Woodland, Camila Avelar won the silver medal in Early Childhood Education, Caleb Mouat received the gold medal for Prepared Speech and bronze medal for Restaurant Service, Katelyn Paulson won the gold medal in Restaurant Service and Brooke Schimmel received the gold medal for customer service and silver medal for restaurant service. The team’s adviser, Kimberly Miller, was recognized as SkillsUSA Adviser of the Year.
The state champions are gearing up to head to the National Conference June 24 - 29 in Louisville, Kentucky.
In addition to competitions, Miller said that she teaches her SkillsUSA students the value of giving back to the community by doing things such as catering and serving food at fundraisers and managing food drives.
“Our team organizes community service projects both in the school and also around the community,” Miller said in a press release. “The kids put in a lot of time and effort to give back to Woodland.”
