Vance-Granville Community College students recently earned several awards at the 52nd annual SkillsUSA North Carolina State Leadership and Skills Conference, which was held in Greensboro. A record 2,600 participants competed in 110 contests at the conference, billed as the largest showcase of career and technical education in the state.
VGCC Culinary Arts student Shirley Bennett of Durham took home second place in commercial baking, while her classmate, Marcus Brown of Henderson, placed third in the same competition, in which students had to produce cookies, bread and muffins on a large scale.
Two other Culinary Arts students, Hayya Wright of Louisburg and Tyneshia Brackett of Creedmoor, placed third and fifth, respectively, in the culinary arts competition. The contest challenged participants to think on their feet in a “mystery box” format, in which each student was given a box of ingredients and asked to prepare a soup and an entree in a limited amount of time.
Tonisha Chavis of Oxford, a Cosmetology student, placed fifth in the SkillsUSA nail care competition, which was held at the Greensboro Coliseum. The culinary and baking contests were held at Guilford Technical Community College.
VGCC students were accompanied to Greensboro by Culinary Arts instructor Jillian Whitlow and Cosmetology Program Head/instructor Tomeka Moss.
SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. With 18,000 chapters and more than 335,000 active members, SkillsUSA is a national membership organization serving middle-school, high-school and college/post-secondary students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. Among the benefits to VGCC students are opportunities to participate in competitions, which are designed by industry experts and showcase the nation’s top career and technical education students.
“We are very proud of our students for demonstrating that they are among the best in North Carolina,” said Steve Hargrove, VGCC’s Public Services department chair and lead advisor for the SkillsUSA chapter.
For more information on SkillsUSA at VGCC, contact Steve Hargrove at hargroves@vgcc.edu or (252) 738-3467.
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