WWHS students compete in state competition for first time
Students in the FOM pathway sweep the cabinetmaking competition
WEST WARWICK — West Warwick High School Career and Technical Education students brought home four medals at their first-ever SkillsUSA Rhode Island Championship Competition. Three students from the school's Facilities, Operations and Management (FOM) pathway took home medals in the cabinetmaking category.
Michael Totten earned gold, Nathan Charbonneau earned silver, and Keagan
Gormley earned bronze. Totten’s gold medal win earned him the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to compete at the National SkillsUSA competition in June.
“It was a little scary at first, but ultimately this was a great learning experience, and I’m glad I took part in SkillsUSA,” Totten said. “We had about a week to complete our projects. The first couple of days we spent cutting out and assembling parts for our cabinets, and then we started using glue and nails and working on the frames and creating custom trims. Once that was done, we started to assemble and put drawers on the cabinets, and the last few days we spent time sanding and using putty.”
In addition to creating a cabinet, students' final scores are based on their resumes, pre-builds, an online competency test, and a mock interview. SkillsUSA provides students with specifications and plans to help them build a cabinet, as well as a stipend to aid students in purchasing building materials for their cabinets.
“I’m very proud of our students who decided to take on this challenge,” said FOM teacher George Patton. “A lot of this competition was new territory for us, as this was West Warwick’s first time competing in a competition like this, and three of our seniors took home first, second,
and third place, sweeping the competition.”
SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization that helps to strengthen students' workplace, personal and technical skills. Its goal is to help students learn how to navigate the workforce by offering them a wide range of professions, where they can use their current skills and gain new ones.
In addition to taking the top three places in the cabinetmaking category of the competition, Ethan Phillips and Max Tolentino, who are part of West Warwick’s Media, Broadcasting, and Journalism pathway, entered into the TV and video production category and took home a bronze medal for a 60-second video that they produced at the direction of the contest coordinator.
“This competition was a great opportunity for our students to show off their talents, and push their boundaries while going head-to-head with students from across the state,” said WWHS Principal Kristen Hinson. “We are looking forward to continuing our participation in SkillsUSA next year."