Wright Tech has successes at SkillsUSA

Junior Michael Samela was smiling when he held his second place trophy at SkillsUSA, but was already thinking about next year.

“I was smiling in that picture, but I was not happy,” said Samela, an Auto student who completed a nearly 2-hour knowledge test. He had to answer questions about car alignments, identify parts of a transmission, and read a wiring diagram, among other tests.

“I had to do an interview and answer a customer service call,” said Samela (photo of him shaking hands above). “I did pretty well with that.”

Samela was among the 900 CTECS students from the state’s 17 technical high schools competing in the annual SkillsUSA State Conference on March 28, 2025. Held throughout 13 different locations, the main site being H.C. Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, over 58 different on-the-job challenges in various categories were completed. 

This year, 75 CTECS students qualified and will move on to the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference, set to take place in Atlanta, Georgia in June. Only first place finishers are invited to attend.

For Wright Tech, there were a number of  Top 5 medalists. They included:

• Senior Jason Cash (photo holding trophy on landing page, food plate entry above) took second place overall in the Culinary competition. He had to prepare a 3-course meal as part of his competition.  He made a honey dijon walnut salad, chicken and gnocchi soup, and chicken and mushrooms with an orzo pilaf. He had 1 hour prep his food and presented to a panel of 8 judges.
• Senior Eddie DeMarkey (see photo above), who is in the Culinary trade, placed second in the Customer Service competition and was a medalist for Extemporaneous Speaking
• Sophomores Justin Gentle, Luis Gomes Acan, Kevin Gonzalez, and Kenneth Henriquez placed second overall for the Quiz Bowl. The competition is a Jeopardy! style question and answer contest open to all grade levels. Questions were about SkillsUSA, Science, Technology, and other subject areas.
• Juniors Hailey Archer, a Digital Media student, and Adrielly Augusto, a Heath Technology student, were medalists for  Ambassador, an honorary medal for those who contributed to their school’s SkillsUSA chapter.  
• Augusto also was a medalist for Medical Math. She took a knowledge test on medical scenarios that required math. An example, is figuring our appropriate dosage for medication. “I taught myself most of it. I watched some of the videos recommended by (her trade teacher) and used Chat GPT to give me problems. I then created my own study guide. I took a little bit of time each night and worked on it.”
• In TV/ Video Production competition, Juniors Bryan Lima Torres and Hailey Archer were medalists overall, while Senior Efrain Bonilla Gonzales and Sophomore Michael Monroy teamed up for a third place finish. The competition required students to create promotional video on the day of the competition. Lima Torres and Archer went around and interviewed participants and took video footage before editing the final product. “We never got to see who judged it. We tried to take capture the essence of SkillsUSA. I think we could have done some better technical additions. Overall, I was proud,” said Lima Torres.
• Jake Bartlett was a medalist in the Plumbing competition.

Principal Jayme Beckham, Ed.D, was proud of this year’s Wright Tech team.

“Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the SkillsUSA competition,” said Beckham. “Your dedication, hard work, and expertise truly shine through, and we are incredibly proud of your achievements. The SkillsUSA competition is an invaluable opportunity to showcase the remarkable talents and skills you’ve developed, and your performance highlights the incredible potential within each of you. It’s an excellent platform for not only testing your abilities but also for preparing you for a successful future in your chosen fields.”

Carpentry Department Head Phil Bodey was the Adviser for SkillsUSA at Wright Tech.