Seven students from the Butler County Vocational-Technical School were honored for their success at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta in June.
The national conference consists of 115 competitions for students from around the country to showcase their skills in various trades, many of which are taught at the vo-tech school.
Seneca Valley student Viktoriya Semenenko took home gold in the Advertising Design competition, beating 37 other participants. The goal of the competition was to demonstrate technical skill and creativity as one would if they worked for an actual advertising agency.
Zachary Ellison, of Butler; Bennett Shaw, of Knoch; and Shiane Chalkley, of Knoch, took home silver in the “Chapter Display” competition. The trio was in charge of building a three-dimensional display that would encompass the theme of that year’s SkillsUSA conference: “No Limits.” The display was flanked by a sculpture of a brain on a metal pole, while a message behind it read, “No Limits to the Power of Knowledge.”
Madison Smith, of Karns City; Bethany Scuticchio, of Pennsylvania Leadership Charter; and Zoe Coffey, of Moniteau, took fourth place in the Arts and Communication competition, where the goal was to use skills honed over the course of their career studies to develop a display. The trio came up with designs for three welcome signs for Evans City, all of which are expected to be made into actual signs and put into use in the near future.
According to one board member, the Butler vo-tech trio was just a few points shy of third place in that competition. They had already taken first place at the state-level competition in Hershey in the same category in April.
Four of the seven vo-tech students — Semenenko, Ellison, Chalkley and Smith — were present during the meeting of the joint operating committee Thursday night. The 10-member committee asked the four about their plans for the future, to which Semenenko said she is currently running a graphic design business through Instagram.
Ellison said he planned to go to Penn State Behrend to study plastics engineering, while Chalkley is working at Butler Technologies on West Wayne Street. Smith is moving on to 11th grade in the coming school year, so she’ll have another chance to compete at SkillsUSA.
From left, Butler County vo-tech students Madison Smith, Shiane Chalkley, Viktoriya Semenenko and Zachary Ellison all earned high marks at the SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta in June. William Pitts/Butler Eagle
