Keystone Central Board celebrates SkillsUSA National Champions
By Christopher Miller
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – The Keystone Central School Board Thursday evening congratulated the members of the Central Mountain High School SkillsUSA program on their national placements. Sofia Dressler, a 2024 graduate, won the National GOLD Medal in the Related Technical Math competition, and Ellen Banfill, Emily Everett, and Samantha Streator took 8th place out of 31 other groups in the Community Service competition.
“Your dedication, hard work, and exceptional skill in your chosen field have not only set a high standard, but have also brought great pride to our district,” Superintendent Dr. Frank Redmon read his statement outloud. “Competing on stage at the national level is a remarkable achievement, and your success is a testament to your commitment and perseverance. The SkillsUSA National Championship represents the pinochle of vocational and technical skill, and your participation reflects your outstanding personality and determination.”
“We are inspired by your achievements,” he went on, “and are confident that you will continue to excel on your future endeavors and that your accomplishments have been celebrated by the entire Keystone Central community and we are incredibly proud of you and look forward to seeing all the great things you will achieve in the future. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. Your success is a shining example of the excellence we strive to cultivate in our students.”
The two advisors for the SkillsUSA club were also introduced to the school board.
“It is always a pleasure to see when students go to nationals, especially when we finish as high as we did and in my 31-year career we have had four or five, I’ve had two national champions and have been very lucky to see that happen,” said CTE Program Director Kurt Lynch.
Club Advisors Chelsea Grieb and Ashley Brungard were also on hand Thursday evening to congratulate their students.
“SkillsUSA is a national organization and is available to all career and technical education students. We have about 100 student members in our chapter here at Keystone Central, and Skills is really designed to empower our career and technical education students. We encourage them to become career-ready leaders, skilled professionals, and responsible community members, that is our goal. This year we had about 50 students who chose to compete in 29 different competitions, those competitions are designed for them to sharpen their skills they are learning, and with those 50 students that competed in districts, 25 of those students went to Hershey at the state level. Of the 25, 12 students placed in the top 3 in their competitions and these lovely four ladies placed first at the state level and went to Atlanta, Georgia for a week to experience SkillsUSA at the national level,” one of the Club Advisors said.
“You would have been so proud of them, there was the “please” and “thank yous,” and shaking hands with community members, to leadership, employers and colleges, and they really represented the PA team and our school tremendously, and their parents should be proud.”
“It was such a good time,” said a student. “From meeting the people that were there, participating in the different competitions, it was an opportunity to expand our horizons. We really liked going to the expos and seeing the industry presentations and how the skills we learned are applicable to the workforce.”
“We want to thank the community for helping us with our project because, and for our advisors who took us there,” said another.
“After the state competition, I received a letter from a judge that I know personally, and it said how professional they were, they judged for 27 years and this was the best group they’ve seen at a state competition,” Kurt Lynch said. “Mr. Morello, a former director here at Keystone Central.”
The school also received a gold medal with SkillsUSA members’ names on a plaque, and a big board with their names and how they placed at nationals.
As well, banners for the national champion will be hanging around the school and displayed in three different places: lobby, the classroom, and the CTC office.
Mr. Verelli and Kurt Lynch presented Chelsea Grieb with a championship belt with their hashtag: #dreamitdoit.
“I think the first recipient of the belt couldn’t be anyone better than someone who exemplified taking our students to the point of them dreaming it and doing it,” Mr. Verelli said. “Hopefully this carries on and when school starts you look for another staff member that is showing the same “dream it, do it” mantra, and know that we are very proud of you.”
“You made us very proud,” Mr. Verelli said.
