MTI Leader at SkillsUSA Regionals
(Bradenton, FL—February 21, 2014)
Manatee Technical Institute students were the clear leaders at the 2014 Region 6 Florida SkillsUSA competitions. The Manatee Tech students won 47 Gold, 28 Silver, and 19 Bronze medals. With 94 medals, MTI again won more medals than any other school in the region.
Six tech centers and three high schools participated in the regional competition. Tech centers included MTI, Cape Coral Institute of Technology, Charlotte Technical Center, Fort Meyers Institute of Technology, Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology, and Sarasota County Technical Institute. Sarasota and Charlotte Tech each won 42 medals.
MTI students won gold in two of the stiffest competitive events: Automotive Service Technology and Cosmetology. In the college/postsecondary Cosmetology contest, Taylor Hawkins won the gold for MTI. In the automotive event, Joaquin Ochoa took 1st place in the college/postsecondary division, and Ricardo Losert took 1st in the high school/secondary division. Their classmates Tyler Inman and Joshua Jackson both took home the bronze in the postsecondary and secondary contests respectively.
Other notable wins for MTI: Terry Bradley, Ernest Brown, and Damon Grannan swept the college/postsecondary Major Appliance Repair contest placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Team Kristina Brucato and John Castello won 1st in the high school division of Television (Video) Production. And Digital Design students Grace Robinson and Lisbeth Gonzalez each won first in their divisions of Photography–this was the first year for MTI to enter that event.
The high schools competing in the region were all Manatee District high schools: Bayshore, Braden River, and Southeast. The Southeast team of Sydney Mitchell, Gabrielle Murphy, Daniel Shevlin and Luizomgel Walle won gold in Broadcast News Production, and Bayshore shined especially brightly in Related Technical Math with Conner Welch garnering the gold.
The skills contests were held at Manatee Technical Institute’s new main campus on State Road 70 on February 20, and the leadership contests were held at Charlotte Technical Center in Port Charlotte the week before.
The first and second place winners in all contest categories will be advancing to the state competitions, which will be held in Pensacola, April 27-29, 2014. For the past ten years, MTI has exceeded all other schools by winning the most medals in the nation.
Over 560 students in the region competed in 40 skill contests and 11 leadership contests; most contests had college and high school divisions, and some were team events. SkillsUSA is a national organization that promotes excellence, employability skills and ethics to students in career and technical education to better prepare them for successful careers.
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Awards ceremony: Over 400 students wait to hear the results of the 2014 Region VI SkillsUSA Contests. Six tech centers and three high schools competed. MTI students won the highest number of medals.
