Press Release

Metropolitan Education District 760 Hillsdale Ave San Jose, CA 95136 April 28, 2009

Contact: Michelle Alaimo Communication Specialist (408) 723-6464 malaimo@metroed.net

CCOC Students Named Best in the State at SkillsUSA State Competition

Four Central County Occupational Center (CCOC) students were awarded Gold medals and named best in the state in their field at SkillsUSA State Competition held from April 23 to 26 in Fresno, California.

An additional four CCOC students took home the silver, and two took home a bronze medal. CCOC students won a combined total of $61,000 in scholarships to Universal Technology Institute (UTI) and Wyotech University. Diesel Technology and Lincoln High School student Prescott Dorius took home the largest scholarship for his Gold medal win: $25,000 to UTI and a $15,000 to Wyotech. The four Gold medal winners will advance to the SkillsUSA Nationals competition in June in Kansas City.

Students competed in the areas of Heating & Air Conditioning (HVAC), HVAC Job Interview, HVAC Job Skill Demonstration, Diesel Technology, Computer Technology, Carpentry, Welding, Intro to Auto, Collision Repair, and Auto Refinishing.

HVAC Gold medal winner and Santa Teresa High School senior, Mario Mazzella, said that he is very excited about the National competition but is extremely nervous that he will be competiting against more than 50 other students who were named best in the field in their state. Mazzella is no stranger to the SkillsUSA state competition. Last year Mazzella won a silver medal and a $10,000 scholarship to Wyotech at the state competition. This is in addition to the $4,000 Grove Foundation Scholarship that Mazzella earned earlier this year at CCOC.

Other Gold medalists are Jamie Wancewicz in Collision Repair; and Michael Conniff in HVAC. Silver medals: Logan Hernlund in HVAC; Justin Nieto, from Silver Creek High School and in HVAC; Dalton Mead in Diesel Technology and from Leland High School (also earned a $5,000 scholarship to each UTI and Wyotech); Daniel Romero in Collision Repair and from Boynton High School. Bronze medals: Jeffrey Leong from Computer Technology and Evergreen High School; and second time state winner, Arthur Wright, from Diesel Technology and Oak Grove High School (also earned a $3,000 scholarship to each UTI and Wyotech).

SkillsUSA is a national organization for career-technical education students within trade, technical, industrial and health occupations. Annual competitions are held to encourage students to challenge themselves within their chosen technical careers.

CCOC, a unit of MetroED, provides career-technical education for high school students in six districts: Campbell Union High School District, East Side Union High School District, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Milpitas Unified School District, San Jose Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District. Students attend CCOC for half of their school day and the other half they attend their home high school.

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MetroED is the largest career-oriented educational organization in Santa Clara County, comprised of high school and adult occupational, academic and community programs.

MetroED annually provides 30,000 diverse students with the skills to help them be productive, income-earning and tax-paying contributors to Silicon Valley.