Wes Blidy’s Diesel Technology/Heavy Equipment students, at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center, have turned the $20 SkillsUSA membership fee into thousands of dollars in scholarship money. “It is awesome that fee has changed their lives in so many ways,” says Blidy. “Most of them joined SkillsUSA to help perfect their career skills and allow them to compete at the regional and state level to see how they compete against other career and technical education students in their field.”
After competing at the regional and state levels students were recognized for their hard work, ethics and how they did at the SkillsUSA Leadership Conference and Competition. SkillsUSA is the number one workforce development organization for students. We empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders, and responsible community members.
At the Regional competition held at SUNY Alfred, Teagan Meyers (Starpoint) received $2,000 from Ohio Technical College (OTC) after competing in the Diesel Equipment Technology competition. Juniors Tony Dipaolo (Starpoint) after competing in the Power Equipment Technology received a $1,000 scholarship from OTC and Erica Smith (Starpoint) after a third-place finish in Diesel Equipment Technology received a $1,000 scholarship from OTC. Seniors in the program Kyle Hammers (Wilson) took second place in the Power Equipment Technology competition and received a $2,000 scholarship from OTC. Classmate Nathan Wendt (Starpoint) took first place in the Diesel Equipment Technology and was offered a $3,000 OTC scholarship. Both Kyle and Nathan were also offered scholarships from the Universal Technical Institute (UTI). Kyle was awarded $1,500 and Nathan was awarded $2,000.
At the NYS SkillsUSA competition, held in Syracuse, Kyle Hammers took second place in the Power Equipment Technology and was offered an additional $7,500 from OTC and $5,000 from UTI. Nathan Wendt took first place in the Diesel Equipment Technology and will be representing New York State at the National SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia. The University of Northwestern Ohio gave him a $10,000 scholarship, OTC offered him an additional $10,000, Lincoln Tech offered him $7,500, UTI offered him a $15,000 scholarship plus MST (Manufacturers Specific Training) which equals three months extra free tuition for Cummins or Power Generation classes and Snap-on Tools gave him a $500 tool scholarship.
You could say that joining SkillsUSA has benefitted the Diesel Technology students in more ways than one. All the students expressed appreciation for the opportunity to receive these scholarships and advance their education and career.
