Region 1 Skills USA students compete at AWC

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Local middle school, high school, and college students show off their skills. 

Thursday and Friday, over 400 teachers and students, come together to compete in leadership as well as career and technical education skills. 

“So this first day we have our leadership competition with things such as prepared speech, customer service, job interviews, and then our next day will consist of more technical skills such as engineering, CSI, construction and things of that manner,” said Joshua Lopez, SkillsUSA Region 1 treasurer.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers, and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.

The SkillsUSA Region 1 treasurer says he is passionate about engineering, which is one reason he joined this organization.  

“Ever since I was younger, I would always wonder how things work and how things function, so because of that, as I grew up, I translated that into mechanical engineering because that focuses on the mechanics of things and how they work,” said Lopez.

The students competing are part of a career and technical education program at their high school.

Some CTE classes include law and public safety, culinary, welding, photography, and engineering.

“They have to build a robot and then they have to go around a track and do certain tasks and grab an ied. So it’s pretty interesting,” said Juan Atayde-Garcia, the Skills USA Region 1 president.

The students who place at this local completion will continue to the state competition in March.