Fifty seven Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School students attended the SkillsUSA State Competition on Friday March 28, 2008 at Vinal Technical High School in Middletown, CT.  Grasso competed against students from the sixteen other technical schools across the state.  Grasso is proud of all the competitors’ hard work, enthusiasm and dedication to their trade as well as academia.  Twenty three trophies and metals were awarded to Grasso students for top performances in both leadership and trade competitions. Four students received first place awards and will be attending the SkillsUSA National Competition in Kansas City, MO from June 22 to June 28, 2008.  The first place winners are Tom Rafferty, Jonathan Perry, Kailah Pfugbeil and Arcadia Roderick.

Senior and club co-president, Tom Rafferty, Grasso’s second time first place winner competed in the Carpentry competition, with yet another stellar performance.  Last year he placed fourth in the SkillsUSA National Competition, an outstanding accomplishment.   Junior, Jonathan Perry also attended Nationals last year but this year he will be competing in his trade, Information Systems Technology.  Sophomore, Kailah Pfugbeil of the Hotel Hospitality shop placed first in Food and Beverage competition.  Senior and club ambassador, Arcadia Roderick will compete in Job Skills Open Demonstration, which entails performing a demonstration of beach seining; a skill used in her Bio-Environmental Technology shop.  Arcadia also received third place in Job Interview.

All four the above first place winners will now be competing in the SkillsUSA National Competition in Kansas City, MO from June 22 to June 28.  The competition will cost each student approximately $900.00 for the entire week including the competition fees, hotel and flight.  The students will be fundraising and seeking support from local businesses and organizations.  If you are interested in supporting these students and their cause please contact the SkillsUSA Advisor Sandi J. LaPierre Jameson at Sandi.jameson@ct.gov.

Senior and co-president, Emily Borden was a National competitor last year. This year Emily received two second place trophies, one for Job Interview and the other for Job Skills Open Demonstration for her demo on cold water emersion survival suit training.  Also receiving second place trophies were Kathy Lemus in Food and Beverage and Ben Morris in Information Systems Technology.  Third place trophies were received by Tim Gale for Hairdressing, Aisha Taylor for Food and Beverage, Elizabeth Sanborn for Job Skills Demo A and Rosaly Hernandez for Extemporaneous Speaking. Many students were also finalists at the State Competition including; Danielle Pepin, Chris Haughton, Stephanie Fournier, Elizabeth Sanborn, Jacob Serrano-Fisher, Jasmine Rivera, Zach Kemp and Dan Cornish.