Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Fifteen technology centers and local career centers, including Eastside and Southside technical centers, participated in this fall’s SkillsUSA Kentucky Leadership Training Institute in Louisville.

During the three-day event, about 150 students and advisers further developed their confidence and skills in public speaking, creative problem-solving and critical thinking.

Students from Fayette County Public Schools’ technical centers picked up several awards:

• Banner – 1^st place, Natalie Traylor, Southside; 2^nd place, Dylan Tucker, Southside
• T-shirt design – 1^st place, James Foster, Eastside
• 20-second elevator story – 1^st place, Alyssa Baggott, Eastside
• Two-minute speech – 2^nd place, Mindy Thomas, Southside
• Spelling – 3^rd place, Caleb Causey, Southside
• Opening and closing ceremony – 1^st place, Blue Team, including Kathryn Dickey of Eastside; 2^nd place, Red Team, including Aldo Garcia of Southside and Deshon Barber of Eastside
• Most-improved team member – Luke Day of Eastside (Gold Team)

This year’s overall team was the Red Team, including Eastside’s Deshon Barber, David Esparza and Oziel Saucedo and Southside’s Dylan Tucker, Chris Jump, Danielle Dora, Aldo Garcia and Natalie Traylor.

“Attending this training is often the first step toward state or national leadership roles in SkillsUSA. That, in turn, often leads to professional leadership as these students enter the workforce,” said Steve Phillippi, director of SkillsUSA Kentucky.

SkillsUSA is a nationwide partnership of business and industry, career and technical educators and students. Its goals are to motivate students, teach leadership skills, assist teachers with quality program development and provide quality workers to business and industry. SkillsUSA Kentucky membership includes some 5,500 high school and postsecondary students.