Certificates, and Medals, and Hershey Bars . . . Oh MY!

After an icy delay last Friday, this afternoon — as the student body watched the live stream, friends and family the members of the Lawrence County CTC Chapter of SkillsUSA. Finally, they could receive tangible evidence of their success: their well-deserved certificates and medals.

Two weeks earlier on January 12th, the kids left the competition arena knowing they did their best . . . recognizing that it would take a few days for the official scores to be announced. When they returned after the long weekend, they learned they’d need to wait a few more to officially learn of their medal status and rank at Friday’s assembly. However, when the skies turned gray on , and the snow and ice fell, the decision was made to postpone the awards ceremony. Knowing that the wait was just too much to bear, a virtual announcement was made that

Thirty-six members also received now-traditional Hershey Bars, a symbol of their next step in competition — State Championships in Hershey, PA! In April, our gold medalists and 8 straight-to-state competitors will head to the middle of the state to compete in Leadership, Occupationally-Related, and Skilled and Technical against the best-of-the-best from 11 districts across the great state of Pennsylvania.

Gold Medalists at states are then welcomed into a Pennsylvania contingent at the National Championships in Atlanta fondly called “TeamPA” — but before that happens, there is a lot of skill, practice, and fundraising, as well as a pinch of good luck to occur to prepare for Hershey, and our members are ready!

We are proud of all of our members, medalists, and state competitors. As for the members and their futures? We can say — there are NO LIMITS! The work for the future has already continued as we strive to be job-ready — the ultimate goal of SkillsUSA.