A trio of Worcester Tech students are working to highlight the efforts of the school’s SkillsUSA program through the American Spirit competition as the state and national championships loom closer.
American Spirit competition showcases organization’s work
By Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
Worcester Technical High School students Catherine Miller, Julia Knerr and Maddison French are working to highlight the efforts of the school’s SkillsUSA program through the American Spirit competition as the state and national championships loom closer.
“American Spirit highlights what your organization has done throughout the year,” Worcester Tech Special Education Assistant Tammy Hearne said.
The nonprofit SkillsUSA, a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure the country continues to have a skilled workforce, helps make sure students are career ready when they leave high school. Through the program, local students in the various programs at Worcester Tech—criminal justice, welding, culinary arts, etc.—have the chance to compete at the local, state and even national levels. Along with program specific competitions, there are also chapter-wide competitions such as American Spirit.
For the American Spirit challenge at the state competition, Worcester Tech’s team will have to present the local chapter’s activities related to community service, citizenship and promotion of career and technology education.
“The American Spirit team will put all the projects together in a book to present at states,” Hearne said.
They’ll include information about projects local SkillsUSA students completed in Worcester County, such as a sex trafficking presentation held at local high schools in the fall of 2023 to raise awareness of the issue, and Valentine’s Day cards they gave to residents at the Berlin Nursing Home this month. The group will also highlight the way students in the Worcester Tech early childhood program have apprenticeship opportunities at The Nest Early Learning Center.
“The Nest has created opportunities for them to use their skills daily,” Hearne said. “They’re making lesson plans in the classroom and then they can implement them when they’re helping with the kids.”
Knerr, who is in the early childhood program at Worcester Tech, said she wanted to help with the American Spirit competition because she liked doing good in the community.
“I enjoy helping out in the community, especially stuff that has a direct impact on people,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to handing out Valentine’s Day cards at the nursing home. “By hand delivering them ourselves we get to see their reactions. It’s heartwarming.”
Miller said she thinks the American Spirit competition will bring even more awareness to the topics various school programs found to be important in the community. As a criminal justice student, she was involved in the sex trafficking presentation.
“We’re bringing light to it so it can be an easier conversation,” she said.