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Press Release
CCOC Students Named Best in the State at SkillsUSA State Competition
Six 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 8 to 11 in San Diego, California. A total of 15 high school and adult students won medals with CCOC having three repeat medal winners from last year. Students took home $70,000 in scholarships from the annual competition.
Four CCOC students took home the silver, and five took home a bronze medal. Repeat Gold winner in Diesel Technology and Lincoln High School student Prescott Dorius took home two more scholarships for his Gold medal win: $25,000 to Universal Technology Institute (UTI) and an $8,500 to Wyotech. Added to last year’s wins, Dorius has earned more than $70,000 in scholarships in the past two years. Dorius said that he had no experience in truck mechanics prior to attending CCOC and now he looks forward to a career in truck mechanics. “I’m glad I had the opportunity to compete and I’m looking forward to going to nationals for the second time,” Dorius said.
CCOC Collision Repair and Broadway High School Student, Junior Palos, also won a gold medal and a $25,000 scholarship to UTI and $8,500 to Wyotech, and Collision Repair and Capitol High School student, Logan Mosher, won a $3,000 scholarship to UTI. All of the Gold medal winners are eligible to advance to the SkillsUSA Nationals competition in June in Kansas City.
“The students did really well in this competitive environment,” CCOC Truck Mechanics instructor and SkillsUSA advisor, Mike Cortese, said. “They were all well prepared and able to use many of the skills they have learned in class at CCOC in the competition.”
Students competed in the areas of Diesel Technology, Heating & Air Conditioning (HVAC), Intro to Automobiles, Residential Wiring, Computer Maintenance, Collision Repair, Auto Refinishing, Carpentry, First aid/CPR, Basic Health Care, HVAC Job Interview, Welding TIG, Welding MIG, and Welding.
This was the first year that CCOC has participated in the Basic Health Care, and First Aid/CPR completion portion of the event. CCOC Health Occupations and Boynton High School student, Karina Sanchez earned silver in Basic Health Care.
Other medal winners are:
Gold—Kyle Schepens for HVAC and from Valley Christian High School; Adult student, Jeffery Leong for Computer Maintenance in the post-secondary category (won a bronze last year in the high school category); Adult student, Mohammed Dastgiri; and Ian McMillian in the post-secondary category for Welding.
Silver—Chun Wang for HVAC and from Independence High School; adult student Logan Hernland for HVAC in the post-secondary category (also won a silver last year); Yong Kang Zhao for Computer Maintenance and from Independence High School.
Bronze—Jacob Salazar for HVAC and from Piedmont Hills High School; adult student Daryl Demanawa for HVAC; Moses Sanchez for Computer Maintenance and from Santa Teresa High School; Logan Mosher for Collision Repair and from Capitol High School; and adult student Terrence Lynch for Welding TIG.
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.
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.
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