NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — Sixteen students from North Platte High School’s SkillsUSA chapter earned 11 medals and gained valuable career experience during the Nebraska SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference held April 10–12 in Grand Island.
The annual event brought together students from across the state to compete in more than 100 career and technical education contests ranging from architecture and audio/video technology to public safety and welding.
North Platte High School students competed in 13 categories, including Cosmetology, Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Justice, Customer Service, Welding Sculpture, and Job Interview. The team returned with 10 individual medalists and plenty of motivation for next year’s competition.
Junior Finnley Eickhoff earned a silver medal in the Customer Service event and also competed as part of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies team, which took second place overall. Teammates included Bella Harwager, Isabella Frazier, Brianna Romero, Zoey Husemoller, Avery Luenenborg and Abigail Hanson.
The Welding Fabrication team of Dylan Bowers, Douglas Titman and Ethan Britenham brought home third place honors for their work.
"This experience is so much more than competition," said a chapter representative. "It’s about building confidence, leadership and real-world skills."
SkillsUSA is a national organization that prepares students for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.