There are several Riverbank High School SkillsUSA Club members that will be attending the 55th Annual SkillsUSA California Leadership and Skill Conference at the Ontario Convention Center this week. The event is scheduled from April 21 through April 24. The Skills students were recognized at a charter meeting at the end of March for awards received during SkillsUSA competitions held from Jan. 22 to Feb. 12 for Region 5 which includes Alpine, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Madera, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties.

Building and Construction Instructor Cory Casteel explained that all the competitions were held at each of the student’s specific schools. Some of the competitions included a test, résumé, and video that were due on specific dates. After they completed those elements the students had to do a three-minute interview on Zoom. Those that competed in Carpentry had a live event via Zoom with a proctor at the high school and a judge on the other end of the Zoom call.

He said, “The proctor had to walk around with the laptop and a camera for the judge to see what was going on and take measurements.”

For the Cabinet Making competition, Jose Rivera received Gold, Melany Mejia-Contreas got Silver, and Ian Ibanez came in fourth place.

Jesus Tovar took Gold in the Carpentry competition and Frank Manzo got fifth place.

The Culinary Arts competition had Isabel Valenzuela receive Silver, Devon Parshall earned fourth place, and Rudy Medellin took sixth place.

Vanessa Torres received Gold for the Customer Service competition.

In Extemporaneous Speaking, Esteban Verdin received Silver.

For Introductory Woodworking, Nathan Melo got Gold, Xaedon Thomas took Silver, and Joshua Melo received Bronze.

Jordan Velasco received Gold in the Restaurant Service competition.

The SkillsUSA Club encompasses students from the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs at Riverbank High School.

The SkillsUSA national nonprofit organization prepares middle school, high school, and college students in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. They provide educational experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship, and character development.

There are six students from RHS that will be attending the State Conference with Instructor Casteel. Those students are Nathan Melo, Joshua Melo, Introductory Woodworking; Jose Rivera, Melany Mejia-Contreras, Cabinet Making; Jesus Tovar, Frank Manzo, Carpentry.