SkillsUSA adviser Joshua Reif, along with four students, addressed the Joint Operating Committee of the Carbon Career & Technical Institute about the success of the school’s SkillsUSA program.

The students were Culinary Arts senior Adrianna Mattern and junior Elianna McDermott, both from Panther Valley; and Graphic Design juniors Leah Knappenberger, Palmerton Area, and Amanda Martell, Jim Thorpe Area.

“I’m happy to report that we had 25 medalists at the district level, and now we’re getting ready for the states, which is April 8 to the 10th in Hershey,” Reif said. “We are going to have 33 CCTI students going. I would just like to thank all of you for making it possible for us to go.”

Knappenberger and Martell spoke about their experience preparing for and competing in the Promotional Bulletin Board competition.

“This is our second year competing,” Martell said. “Last year we competed in Chapter Display. This year we are working to create a bulletin board and will promote it.”

The two shared their board with this year’s theme “Champion Your Education.” They showed the interchangeable parts — one of the requirements. They will need to create a binder with the design process, and its meaning among other information. They also will need to physically present to the judges with a prepared speech.

Mattern and McDermott spoke about their competition in cake decorating.

“For our regional competition, we brought our cakes and buttercream and supplies,” McDermott said. “When we got there, we had to assemble our cakes — it’s a two-tiered cake competition. We had three hours to complete it. There were three other teams competing, and we got first place with a perfect score.”

Mattern and McDermott also will compete in the state competition in April.