Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School Sends a Record-Breaking Seven Students to Compete at SkillsUSA National Championship

MARLBOROUGH — Superintendent-Director Ernest F. Houle is pleased to announce that a record-breaking seven students from Assabet Regional Vocational Technical School attended the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.

The conference took place from June 23-28 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Ga. Over 19,000 vocational students gathered to compete against the best in their trades. Assabet Valley’s seven students represented their trades well, returning home with excellent results. 

SkillsUSA is a national workforce development organization that serves more than 395,000 high school, middle school and college students, as well as professionals, who are studying and training in trade, skilled services (including health occupations) and technical occupations. 

The annual National Leadership and Skills Conference sees thousands of career and technical students compete head-to-head in 114 trade, technical and leadership competitions. 

Assabet Valley students competed in the following categories:

• Chelsea Mayone, a Metal Fabrication senior from Shrewsbury, competed in Welding Sculpture.
• Katherine Tovar, a Painting & Design senior from Westborough, Arianna Bryce Rudd, an HVAC senior from Hudson, and Cecelia Robinson, an HVAC senior from Shrewsbury, competed in Chapter Display.
• Painting & Design sophomores Daniel Gois and Diandra Marliere, both of Marlborough, and Gabriella Bairos, of Hudson, competed in the Promotional Bulletin Board.

Mayone’s welded sculpture of a tree earned her a silver medal during the competition. 

“While the students are the real stars, we would like to thank the Assabet community for the incredible support. These projects required months of effort to design, create, troubleshoot and finally ship the products down to Atlanta,” advisor Kelly Jenkins said. “The students gained new skills and valuable experiences collaborating with instructors and students outside of their shops, particularly in Advanced Manufacturing, Carpentry, Design & Visual, Auto Collision, Electrical Wiring, as well as the Vocational & Business Offices.”

“We are very proud of the seven students who skillfully represented Assabet Valley at the SkillsUSA National Championships,” Superintendent Ernest F. Houle stated. “We are also extremely proud of Chelsea Mayone for winning a Silver Medal in Welding Sculpture. We would also like to extend special thanks to the instructors in Metal Fabrication, HVAC and Painting & Design, and the Assabet SkillsUSA Chapter Advisors Bruce Long, Kelly Jenkins and Kim Stencel for the countless hours they devote to helping prepare these students for success.”