Students Take Home Gold in Competition

SAN BERNARDINO>> On Saturday, Jan. 28, thousands of local college, high school and middle school students had arrived to the Campus Center at San Bernardino Valley College to compete in the SkillsUSA Region 6 Competition, an opportunity to showcase their prowess in culinary arts, welding, automotive technology, diesel technology, crime scene investigation, robotics, web design and many other challenging professional fields. For several weeks prior, Chef Stacy Meyer, chair of  SBVC’s culinary arts program and the college’s liaison with SkillsUSA coordinators, was securing judges, making sure classrooms were prepared and buying all of the necessary supplies for the day of the competition. “Now, I am ready for an event that goes off without a hitch and gives students a chance to shine,” she said. Several hours later, the competition was over and hundreds of competitors and their families gathered in the auditorium to receive recognition and awards from judges. Many medalists were SBVC students, who would now be advancing to the state-level competition in April. “Our students will be competing against other students from all over the state, the best of the best, if you will,” Meyer said. “If one is lucky enough to win at national level, they will be awarded scholarships to various colleges. These events are sponsored by some of the largest companies in America.” Among SBVC students, there were 19 gold, silver and bronze medalists: Julian Hopfert, Randy Perry, Hunter Hale, Ashley Amann, Melissa Ontiveros, Tiffany King, Emily Smith, Jasmine Jones, Gabriella Mejia, Alexandra Medina, Amanda Gutierrez, Lynn Baeza, Peter Dalton, Jasmine Hernandez, Alex Diaz, Larry Ashford, Dulce Benevidas, Pedro Beltran, and Ricardo Arellano. “It was an exciting day and we all learned a lot,” said welding instructor Daniel Comiskey. “I am really looking forward to our winners competing at the state level in San Diego this April.”