Career & Technical Service Organizations: SKILLS USA

Front Row -- Nate Magoon, Grecia Murillo-Romero, Brianna Messina, & Briana Demers

Back Row -- Brooke Johnson, Meiyi Chong, Brenden Nault, & Devin Norris

          Jacob Attarian - Silver Technical Computer Apps 2017                                                   Josh Attarian - Gold 2nd time 2017 Extemporaneous Speech

                                                                                                 Ben Matte - Gold in Technical Computer Applications

Congratulations to the following students for placing at the 2017 SkillsUSA NH competitions;

1st Place-Gold

Josh Attarian-Extemporaneous Speech

Ben Matte-Technical Computer Applications

2nd Place-Silver

Jacob Attarian-Technical Computer Applications

Nate Magoon & Grecia Murillo-Romero-Team B Television/Video Production

Brenden Nault, Devin Norris, Meiyi Chong, and Brooke Johnson-Broadcast News

3rd Place-Bronze

Briana Demers & Brianna Messina-Team C Television/Video Production

Congratulations to their CTE instructors; Joe Messineo, Curt Killion, Craig Robinson, and Chris Hazel.

1st place winners will be traveling to the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference on June 19, 2017.  Anyone interested in sponsoring the students may contact Mrs. Berube at Salem CTE Center 893-7073 x 5339.

SkillsUSA Salem member Jacob Attarian created a SkillsUSA informational pamphlet explaining what a CTSO-Career & Technical Student Organization is and why it is important to join SkillsUSA at Salem High School. Jacob also included the dates and times for SkillsUSA meetings, as well as a directory of Salem Officers and Advisors.   Jacob, along with fellow committee members Joshua Attarian, Chris Nikitas, Anthony Morganelli, and Mrs. Terry Berube-Advisor, made announcements in the cafeteria and distributed the pamphlets to the students at all four lunches on Wednesday, February 10, 2016.  Pictured is a photo of Jacob Attarian, wearing his purple SkillsUSA NH Leadership T-shirt (donated by Gemini Electric), proudly holding his creation.  Jacob is currently a junior and enrolled in both the Marketing and the CSMA-Computer Software Media Applications programs at Salem’s CTE Center.  

SkillsUSA Salem passed the criteria needed for the Chapter Excellence Award on December 7, 2015, receiving the 1^st award granted in the state of NH for being a quality SkillsUSA Chapter.  Students will be busy working on Level 2 of the program in the upcoming months.  In order to receive the Level 1 award the group had to complete the following;

1.Chapter pays membership dues.

2.All section/program advisors paid professional dues to SkillsUSA.

3.The chapter elected chapter officers.

4.The chapter conducted well-planned, regularly scheduled chapter meetings.

5.The chapter completed a projected budget.

6.The chapter completed a Program of Work.

Next, the group had to complete 3 activities using the 3 Framework Components 1-Personal Skills, 2-Workplace Skills, and 3-Technical Skills.  The 3 activities the Salem students chose to work on included; a Halloween Fundraiser, attended the SkillsUSA NH Fall Leadership Conference, and the group organized and implemented a community service project- Bingo at Salem Haven Nursing Home in Salem, NH on December 4, 2015.

Activity 1-The Halloween fundraiser was the brainchild of Joshua Attarian-membership officer and consisted of selling raffle tickets for the right to vote in a SHS teacher who would don a costume and then a 2^nd raffle that selected which costume the voted-in teacher wore.  Mrs. Tasneem Mohammed, Mrs. Danielle MacDonald, and Ms. Sarah Ellins quickly volunteered and Mrs. Mohammed won.  The Whoopee Cushion costume was the winner of the 2^nd raffle and Mrs. Mohammed paraded around the cafeteria during all 4 lunches on October 30, 2015.  The group was able to donate $25.00 to “End 68 Hours of Hunger” a Salem School District Initiative that provides support to Salem families in need.  

Photo 1 is Mrs. Mohammed in costume.  Photo 2 is Nick Payne, Ben Matte, and Patrick Chan (L-R) advertising the costumes, which SHS students purchased raffle tickets as a means of voting.

Activity 2-The SkillsUSA Fall Leadership Conference was attended by 19 Salem students and 3 Salem Professionals.  Students took workshops with titles including “Be a Role Model”, “Power of Public Speaking”, “Delivering the SkillsUSA Message”, “Be Your Best Self”, “Time Management”, “Exploring the Program of Work”, and “State Officer Discussion”.  Advisors and instructors attended sessions on the “SkillsUSA Framework and Career Readiness Curriculum” presented by Hal Casey-the Maine Skills USA State Director.  

Photo 1 is Chef Jeff Bratz and the SkillsUSA Salem students at the Fall Leadership Conference.   Photo 2 (L-R) is Cam Lira, Anthony Morganelli, Mike Blache, Chris Nikitas, Chris Drew, Jake Attarian, Ben Matte, Brittany Harris, Josh Attarian, Kaija McKibben, Josh Noonan, Francis Donovan, Mariah Guy, and Mrs. Berube-Advisor wearing their new SkillsUSA T-shirts donated by Gemini Electric. Not pictured in the photo, but in attendance were: Dave Deschene, Dylan Beaulieu, Anthony Sacco, and Tom Lapointe.   

The 3^rdand last activity for the Chapter Excellence Program Level 1 was Bingo at Salem Haven.  Jake Attarian, Josh Attarian, Brittany Harris, Cam Lira, Ben Matte, Anthony Morganelli, and their advisor Mrs. Berube joined Emily Nutter-Activity Director at the nursing home for Bingo.  Approximately 20 residents enjoyed the activity led by caller Brittany Harris-Vice-President of SkillsUSA NH.  The residents appreciated the prizes, quarters, and fresh baked cookies made and donated by Brittany and her classmates in Culinary Arts.  

The deadline for the Chapter Excellence Level 2 Program is March 1, 2016 and the SkillsUSA Salem group is very busy working on their submission.  Chapters who receive either level of excellence will be recognized at the SkillsUSA Award Ceremony, which will be held at the Sanborn Regional High School on Sunday, March 20, 2016 at 2:00pm.