Twenty-one students from a dozen area school districts will represent Capital Region BOCES during a statewide virtual competition that tests their abilities in the skilled trades and workplace. RCS student Emma Klercker will be one of those participating students. This year’s event will kick-off virtually the week of April 12-16.
Ms. Klercker will join fellow competitors who hail from as diverse districts as Guilderland, Schenectady and Schoharie. Students will be competing in events that showcase their work-related skills. Winners will advance to the national SkillsUSA competition in June. Students compete in everything from demonstrating a knowledge of proper welding techniques to demonstrating how to solve a crime through their crime scene investigatory skills. Ms. Klercker will be participating in the cosmetology section of the competition.
SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school and college students. The organization promotes personal and professional growth and offers students the opportunity to compete at the local, regional, state and national levels. Locally, a competition drawing hundreds of students from across the region and beyond takes place each March in non-COVID years in Schenectady with the winners competing against peers in Syracuse in April. Winners of the state competitions advance to nationals in Kentucky each June. The organization also promotes giving back to the community, which locally results in collections each year for food pantries and city missions.