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The Barre Technical Center competed in the statewide SkillsUSA competition on April 9, 2009, winning numerous medals and much recognition.

SkillsUSA is a national organization for public high schools and post-secondary students enrolled in technical programs around the country.

Barre Technical Center won 10 medals in various events including cosmetology, carpentry, wiring, plumbing, gorilla communications, ad design, and computer maintenance.

Gorilla communications is a team-building exercise in which competitors use simple commands to perform a task. During the gorilla competition, the team uses four basic commands: up, down, left, and right. For the 2009 competition, a man in a gorilla suit was given commands to correctly put on a shirt using only these simple commands. The Gorilla Communication competition is only in the Vermont SkillsUSA competition. People who won gold medals for gorilla include Cody Barclay, Lorissa Holt, Ashley Stevens, and Danielle Rogers.

BTC student Mushtaba Yuridullah won a gold medal for advertising design. For the competition Yuridullah had to create a logo and poster for next year’s SkillsUSA Vermont competition. “The competition was better than I thought it was going to be,” said Yuridullah.

A number of other students from BTC and sending schools that won medals include: Ryan Davidson, won silver in carpentry, Ben Smith, won bronze in residential wiring, Tyler Tygeson, won bronze for plumbing, Iain Portilipi, won silver in computer maintenance, and Danielle LeClerc won silver in cosmetology.

Participants in SkillsUSA enjoyed themselves, while having an opportunity to meet new people from around the state. Those staying for the entire event got to enjoy a scrumptious banquet and enjoyable award ceremony. Those interested in participating in SkillsUSA should join a technical center program and take part in SkillsUSA next year.