SkillsUSA secures silver

Saratoga Tech Kids take second in state competition

According to their website, "SkillsUSA Wyoming is a Career-Technical Student Organization serving students in Secondary and Post-Secondary technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations."

Saratoga High School students Kelly Glode, Taylor Bennett and Lairren Peebles represented Saratoga at the SkillsUSA Wyoming competition taking the silver.

"We got to do a lot more than SkillsUSA when we went to Casper," Peebles said. "We got to tour the Rocky Mountain Oncology Center, which was a super cool experience because we got to talk to doctors and visit patients."

The SkillsUSA Tech class of Saratoga Middle/High School (SMHS) makes wooden plaques, T-shirts and other products for the July 4 Color Run that raises funds for the Corbett Medical Foundation and Breast Cancer Initiative. The awards that the students make go to the top three runners in eight age groups.

"Taking silver was a big deal coming from such a small school," Peebles said.

The girls agreed getting the award and recognition that came with it is not why the SkillsUSA program is so important. It is helping the community embrace assisting those with cancer.

"The awareness we created after the competition to people was excellent," Bennett said. "We were talking to people afterwards who were amazed with what we are doing here and they wanted to get involved by either coming here or doing walks in their town."

The goals of SkillsUSA is to provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. SkillsUSA promotes understanding the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activities.

Scott Bokelman, SMHS Tech Kids/SkillsUSA advisor and teacher, is proud of what his students are doing for the community. Not only do the students make products for the Color Run Walk, but they make products such as glasses, benches, tables and wooden toys. All profits are put back into the program.

The Color Run on July 4 starts at 7:30 a.m. and the walk part starts at 8 a.m. Registration has already started and it is best to contact Bokelman now at [email protected] to guarantee a team name will be put on T-shirts that are included in the $20 registration fee.

"It means alot to me to be a part of something that is bigger than just myself," Glode said as she talked about how important it is to help people with cancer run/walk.

 

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