(Pictured: United Technology Center students [L to R] Dominic, John, and Joe attend SkillsUSA with homemade t-shirts rooting for their friend, Zach who is competing in the construction competition this year.)

The hallways of United Technologies Center (UTC) were packed with students dressed in different uniforms adorned with the SkillsUSA emblem on March 15 as they came together from across Maine to test their talents at Maine’s annual SkillsUSA event.

Competitions started on March 14th, the day before, and were happening in locations all over Bangor, as they do each year in the spring.

“I’m so nervous,” one student said to another as they climbed the steps to the second floor in search of their instructor and to find the site where their competition would soon start. Students come from Career and Technical Education (CTE) schools all over Maine, some even come the day before due to the distance they have to travel to participate. Many have been preparing for months and even years to take part in the event.

“You’ve got this!” an instructor said to another nervous student as they rushed by to get to another competition.

“I love it!” said Laura Manzo an instructor from Northern Penobscot Tech Region III in Lincoln. Manzo was sitting on a high stool in front of students working in teams of two in the TV/Video Production competition, something she had coordinated for the second year in a row this year. She said being the coordinator of a competition entails locating all of the judges, creating the prompt for the students to use for the event, and being there to run the competition. This year the prompt was to create a promotional video on Solar Eclipse Safety.

Northern Penobscot Tech Region III Instructor Laura Manzo sitting on a stool helping students who are competing in the TV/Video Production competition.

During the competition, Manzo was on hand answering questions and directing students as the 11 teams worked with cameras and other video equipment, in addition to computers with editing software, on planning, filming, narrating, editing, and putting together a video for the judges to view later that day. Their competition started at 6:45 am that morning and would last until 11:30 am. Manzo, in her 5th year of teaching at Northern Penobscot Tech, was excited about the lineup of judges this year but also nervous for the students who would need to film in the rain, an unexpected challenge the day brought.

“We will see what they come up with,” she said hopefully as she flashed a smile and continued answering questions from students and checking her clipboard.

Down the hall students, instructors, judges, and family members lined the halls looking through big picture windows as competitions started for everything from cake decorating to cosmetology, auto collision repair, and more.

SkillsUSA viewers watching competitions.

Cosmetology Competition

Animation Competition

Culinary Arts Competition

Health Knowledge Bowl Competition

Cake Decorating Competition

Construction Competition

Check out more footage from the event in this short video Maine DOE shared on Instagram.

To one end of a UTC hallway sat Rylee, a student at Hancock County Technical Center (HCTC), and Ally a student at Somerset County Technical Center (SCTC) waiting outside a competition room for their turn at the Basic Health Care Skills competition.

Rylee said she likes coming to SkillsUSA because it’s something different. “It’s definitely out of my comfort zone,” she said. She was smiling as she recalled how she was talked into coming last year and again this year.

For Ally, coming to Skills is about, “showing off my talent, showing off my skills, and making friends.” The two sat close together among other students clutching their posters and presentation materials, waiting to do a presentation in front of judges where they would also need to do an interview and showcase basic healthcare skills. They had no idea who among them would get called to go in next.

In addition to students in the traditional competition rooms were students wearing reflective vests that said “Courtesy Corp.” Lydia from Sanford Regional Technical Center, who was wearing one of these vests, explained that she was currently competing and had been since SkillsUSA started the day before. Courtesy Corp is a community service competition where students are tasked with helping patrons who come to watch the event. They are available throughout the event to help direct people and answer questions. Their competition ends after they help get audience members seated at the main ceremony which was set for later that night at the Cross Insurance Arena in Bangor.

At the top of the stairs was HCTC Law Enforcement student Mercedes with her team of 6 students (5 competitors and one alternative). They and the other teams were all wearing red coats and waiting outside of a conference room for their turn at the criminal justice quiz bowl. This was Mercedes’s team’s second year competing in this competition, and her team won gold last year.

“We studied, so it’s just a matter of rising to the challenge,” she said. Before Mercedes and her team got called into the competition room she shared that after she graduates, she plans to go to Thomas College and pursue their 4-year Criminal Justice Program with a concentration in Law Enforcement and hopes to one day work for the Maine State Police.

While UTC continued to bustle well past noon, other locations in the area were also hosting students at various competitions across the two-day event, like Fire Fighting, Diesel Equipment Technology, Entrepreneurship, Medical Math, and Early Childhood Education (and more) taking place at Eastern Maine Community College right next door. There were also many competitions at Cross Insurance Area where eventually everyone would end up later that evening.

Student Pin Design

Students’ T-Shirt Designs

Student Welding Sculpture

Starting the day before were a few special competitions for middle school students which also took place at Cross. Traditionally CTE programs, courses, and pathways are more widely available for high school-aged students and most of the students competing each year are in high school and college, but a growing number of middle schools are starting to offer career and technical education options as well.

Lamoine Consolidated School brought 50 students to compete at SkillsUSA this year, which is a record high for them. There were also students from Hancock Grammar School and Caribou Community School.

Middle school students had the opportunity to compete in State T-Shirt, State Pin Design, Team Engineering Challenge, Job Skill Demonstration, Woodworking Display, Community Service, Job Interview, Promotional Bulletin Board, Co2 Dragster, and 3D Printing.

A picture of the Middle School level Team Engineering Challenge in action

Middle School students from Lamoine Consolidated School take a group picture before they leave for SkillsUSA (image courtesy of Amanda Frost, LCS teacher and parent)

Lamoine Consolidated School teacher and 2023 Hancock County Teacher of the Year Miranda Engstrom, who helped coordinate one of the competitions this year, says that all the middle school students talked about having a great time and are already looking forward to next year’s competition.

“They all overcame challenges and feel more confident in themselves and their abilities to solve problems and explain solutions,” she said. As a fierce advocate for expanding career and technical education opportunities for middle school students, Engstrom adds that any other middle schools that want to be involved in SkillsUSA can reach out to their local technical school director, or reach out directly to Maine’s SkillsUSA Chapter.

When the competitions were completed and done, the students, instructors, administrators, parents, family members, and friends gathered at the Cross Insurance Area for the awards ceremony. Once the very large crowds of audience members were seated, Lydia and the rest of the Courtesy Corp competitors finally finished their competition as well, resting their green vests to also get seated for the ceremony. The ceremony entails top competitors being called up on stage and given gold, silver, and bronze metals, Olympic style standing on cascading platforms, and celebrated but one and all.

Middle School students accepting medals at SkillsUSA

The crowd at Cross Insurance Arena

Lamoine Consolidated School ended up with seven middle school students qualifying for the National Leadership and SkillsUSA Conference in the following competitions: Team Engineering Challenge, Promotional Bulletin Board, and State Pin Design. (Congratulations to Ian Frost, Jordan Chan, Benjamin Baldridge, Elza Cahn, Piper Smith, Kaia Tulloss, and Natalia Briggs!)

Mercedes and her team from the Hancock County Technical Center rose to the challenge as well by earning themselves a gold medal again this year in the Criminal Justice Bowl. As did Rylee from Hancock County Technical Center who ended up winning the silver medal in the Basic Health Care Skills competition. You can see a full listing of all the medal winners announced by SkillsUSA Maine here.

Congratulations to all of the winners, the many student competitors, as well as all of the people behind the scenes who work very hard to make this amazing event happen every year and who help prepare the students to compete.

Top winners of Maine’s SkillsUSA event will go on to compete at the national level in the SkillsUSA Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in June.