Kent ISD — Grandville junior and Kent Career Tech Center student Abigail Reynoso-Ortiz plans to become a lawyer after high school. To help prepare for that path, she ran for — and was elected to — the SkillsUSA State Council.
“I found out there was a position called a parliamentarian and I want to be a lawyer, ” Abigail said. “I know that by running for state officer, it’ll bring me a little closer to my career. It’ll open a lot of doors for me and give me an idea of what my life might be like.”
Leadership is just one facet of SkillsUSA, a national career and technical organization focused on preparing students for the workforce.
Many of the Tech Center’s students have participated in the annual SkillsUSA competitions that showcase:
- Leadership skills, such as community service and speaking;
- Occupation-related skills, such as health and safety and technical math;
- Skills related to specific career paths, such as culinary arts, criminal justice or manufacturing.
This year, four students were elected to the SkillsUSA state office, said Jessica Ramirez, a Tech Center criminal justice instructor and an advisor to the Tech Center’s SkillsUSA students. Another four Tech Center students received gold at the state competition in April.
This is one of the largest groups from the Tech Center to be on the state board, Ramirez said. The council can have up to 12 members, and for 2025 it will have 11.
“SkillsUSA provides lots of leadership opportunities that your students can participate in and you can incorporate into the curriculum,” she said. “By participating in the state council, students have more opportunities to be part of the organization and expand upon those skills.”
Expanding Opportunities
Many of the students credit Ramirez for encouraging them to run for the state council.
“I thought it was a super-cool opportunity to get out and help our community and just become a leader,” said Thornapple Kellogg junior Devon Barnhill.
Devon said she found competing and being a state officer an opportunity to grow; she feels she has gone from someone who was really shy to being able to participate and speak in front of people.
“I would say (to any student) to put yourself out there,” she said about participating in SkillsUSA. “Just accept that there may be some hardships, but dedicate time to it and you’ll get out of it what you put into it.”
Kent City junior Zoe Cato said she saw the state officer position as a way to broaden her horizons beyond her school.
“Being part of something as big as SkillsUSA really stood out to me,” Zoe said. “It gave me the chance to be a role model — someone others could look up to — and that meant a lot. Just having that opportunity was powerful, and the fact that I could run for a state officer position as only a junior in high school pushed me completely out of my comfort zone.”
Zoe said serving on the state council will give her the chance to travel to places like Georgia and Washington, D.C. She hopes to use the experience to inspire other students at her school to get involved and take on leadership roles.
Diana Velasquez-Lucas, a junior at Grand Rapids Southwest Middle High School – Academia Bilingue, said she sees the SkillsUSA state officer position as an opportunity to not only build her leadership skills but also open up more and expand her connections beyond just her circle of friends.
“It’s a great way to build leadership skills, grow personally and really show who you are,” Diana said. “Being around such a diverse group of people is a huge benefit — it’s already starting to shape my future in a positive way.”
The Tech Center students moving on to the National Leadership and Skills Conference of SkillsUSA, which is June 23-27, are: Tristan Devrou, from Caledonia, and Josiah Kubiak, homeschooled, for 3D Animation; Triniti Smith, from Northview, for Prepared Speech; and Kyle Killebrew, from Grand Rapids Catholic, for Diesel Heavy Equipment Operator.
Read more from Kent ISD:
• Tech Center student’s trajectory: sparks and arcs
• A 2,200-mile change in location made all the difference for this grad
