Worland brings home four medals from SkillsUSA; 2 earn state titles

The annual Wyoming SkillsUSA competition took place in Casper April 22-24, where students with skills in various arts and trades have an opportunity to win scholarship money by competing against students from across Wyoming and neighboring states.

This year, Worland took a team of 34 students to the competition competing in 12 categories, up from seven students the year before. Welding teacher Brian Aagard, who coached the SkillsUSA team for the first time last year, said, "The school as a whole is embracing this event."

With 27 more kids to chaperone, Aagard also brought Worland educators Jeanna Croft, Josh Keller and Sarah Staley, who all teach students who competed.

At the close of the three-day competition, the Worland team claimed four medals, all by new competitors.

Earning state championships were Nyssa Leyva and Daniel Lopez.

Nyssa Leyva, a senior, took first place in baking and pastry arts. She said that she doesn't necessarily see herself having a career in baking, but she's taken four years of cooking classes and considers it her specialty.

Leyva said, "I had three hours to make five things. I made cranberry cookies, rolls, pastry dough with my own filling, which I made apple pie filling, they loved it; I decorated a cake and I had to supreme an orange."

Daniel Lopez, a junior, took first place in culinary arts. He said he was given supplies including chicken, snap peas, lemon, ricotta cheese and the ingredients to make a non-yeast flatbread, and he had to prepare an appetizer and entrée within a time limit.

Lopez, who said that he owes his talent in cooking to his family, said, "I went in there thinking this is my first year, I'll just figure out how things work. I didn't really expect it to go how it did... I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I took my time. I was the last one to finish with about 30 seconds left."

Lopez said that he wants to pursue a career in the culinary field, saying, "I want to open my own café, and make it catered toward athlete nutrition with a focus on macronutrients."

Both Leyva and Lopez earned $3,000 in scholarship funds from their wins at the competition.

Sam Seghetti, also a junior, took second place in photography at the competition. She said, "It feels pretty good. I'm proud of myself because I went in not knowing much about the program that we were using to edit photos, but I was able to figure it out while I was there." Seghetti expressed interest in pursuing photography in college, too.

Seghetti earned $2,000 in scholarship funds for her second-place finish.

Dash Hart, a sophomore brought home the final medal, second place in novice welding. This is one of three primary welding categories in the competition reserved for new welders. Hart said that the competition was a very eye-opening experience for him, and expressed that some day he would like to have his own small welding company.

Aagard said that the interest in the competition is growing still, and he anticipates that Worland will have an even bigger team next year. "Every year I want to build it a little bit more; it's a good culture to be in," said Aagard. He added that there are more than 20 categories to compete in, including things like T-shirt design, nursing and robotics, all of which Worland students have yet to take part in.

Others competing last month were: Darren Decker, Zane Lentch, Gage McKim, Sam Decker, Masen Decker, Josh Bear, Kyston Rollema, Grant Page, Baxter Crawford, Aubree Kruger, Isabel Accurso, Xander Smart, Chance Hart, Braeden Allen, Tyshon Swalstad, Ryan Deniz, Kaydence Mosley, Jaren Fabela, Haley Kinghorn, Breanna Draper, Greg Hilmer, Aiden Martinez and Owen Page.