Students put talents to test at SkillsUSA

During the last week of April, the TST BOCES Career and Technical Education Center sent 18 of its students to compete in the SkillsUSA State Championships, held at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Among them were two Groton High School (GHS) students — Brennan Brockway, who is enrolled in the heavy equipment program, and Isaac Hall, who is in welding. Both had the experience of a lifetime and walked away with awards.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure that the U.S. has a skilled workforce. Its competition events showcase the expertise of the career and technical education students. Contests begin locally and continue up through the state and national levels.  

Brockway and Hall are both seniors at GHS and good friends. Brockway is the son of Jeff and Jolene Brockway, who are both 1993 GHS alumni. Hall’s parents are Jason Hall of Moravia and Amber Jackson of Groton. Jackson has been a school bus driver for the Groton Central School District since 2009.  

Due to a number of circumstances, on the morning the students were to leave, a qualified TST BOCES school bus driver was not available to transport them.  

Randy Jackson, instructor for the welding program, is related to Amber and knew that she had already planned to attend, so Randy called her. In short order, the details were worked out and they were on their way, with Amber at the wheel. 

“I am so glad I had the opportunity to help,” Amber said. “And I am very grateful to Superintendent Margo Martin and Transportation Supervisor Jim Sedorus for allowing it. Otherwise, all of those kids could have missed out!” 

Hall said that his interest in welding came from Randy and other family members, including Lamont and Aaron Jackson, and the family-owned welding shop that Hall said he has “been around all my life.” He credits Randy for suggesting he attend BOCES. 

“Both my parents were firefighters,” Hall said. “So, seeing flames of heat on both sides drove me to be a welder and a firefighter. I joined the Locke Fire Department at age 13, and I’m also on the bowling and golf teams at Groton High School.”

Hall reflected on his experience at BOCES.

“I have experienced what a lot of people could not have,” Hall said. “By getting to use the expensive and high-quality equipment at CTE, I was able to fall in love with both the artistic and structural side of welding.”

Similar to Hall, Brennan became interested in pursuing diesel technology in the heavy equipment program because of its instructor, Dale Kinney.  

“My dad and Mr. Kinney are best friends,” Brennan said. “Bookwork is not my thing, my dad is a BOCES alum, and Dale is a very knowledgeable guy, so they encouraged me to take the course.” 

Outside of classwork, Brennan has run cross-country at GHS the past three years and has been in wrestling from the youth level to the present. He also said he sometimes helps out at his dad’s business in Groton, JB Machines, and has volunteered with Brandi Buggs to help with her scrap metal fundraiser to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.   

Brennan earned second place in his area of expertise, diesel equipment technology, at the Area II Regional SkillsUSA competition held at SUNY Morrisville in February. He plans to study diesel technology and agricultural engineering at SUNY Cobleskill this fall.  

Brennan and Hall both spoke highly of the co-leaders of the SkillsUSA program at TST, Nancy Fish and Lisa Dann, and all they did to help prepare them. 

“We’ve been preparing for it since we were juniors without even knowing it,” Hall said. “We were learning skills we never knew would come into play so early and in such a high-stakes competition.” 

Brennan added that they also learned job interview skills at BOCES, which “turned out to be a part of my competition.”

“I never could have dreamed that would be a part of it, but it was,” he said.

Brennan and Hall both spoke about the competition being a good experience and making many friends there. They roomed together over the three days of competition and helped each other study late into the nights. 

“It felt like millions of kids everywhere when we first arrived,” Hall said. “The opening ceremony was long but welcoming and inviting. There was what they call a ‘Skills Council,’ which is kind of like a school board run by students.” 

 Brennan added that while it was a formal meeting, “all were very kind, energetic, motivational and inspirational.”

“Right after that, we headed to our work group settings to get familiar with what would happen and took hour-long written tests that night at 9,” he said.

Hall said that they “were up studying textbooks and study guides and on the internet late into the night to help prepare us for the days ahead.”

“And then we were up for competitions that started at 7 a.m.,” Hall said.

Hall had to study welding terminology to build a SkillsUSA-specified fire pit with his welding fabrication team of three that included his TST classmates, Sam Metz from Ithaca and Chase Wojtanik from Newfield.  

Brennan’s was a solo competition. He had 10 different stations where he was tasked with hands-on displays of his technical skills, some of which were Department of Transportation heavy-duty truck inspection, part failure analysis, fine measuring and virtual welding, which was a complete surprise to him.  

“Isaac and I had to look that up on YouTube the night before to prepare for that,” Brennan said. 

When all was said and done, Brennan placed seventh in his area. Hall and his team placed fourth in theirs.  

“You spend every day seeing everybody, even if they’re not in your program,” Brennan said. “You get to know them, and you have things in common.” 

Hall shared Brennan’s enthusiasm.

“Everybody comes together, and you build friendships outside of just your home school,” Hall said.  

Both students could not be prouder of their accomplishments and are very grateful for this experience and being a part of their programs at BOCES.  

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com or text or call Linda at (607) 227-4922.  

In brief: 

More on SkillsUSA 

The other TST BOCES students who competed at SkillsUSA were Trisha Banner, Alex Blakely, Kendal Collins, Lauren Essner, Nora Hernandez, Emmalyn Ingalls, Liane Jackson, Aislinn Korb, Maxwill Olmstead, Ava Reynolds, Sean Roe, Jack Sherry, Timothy Ward Jr. and Cosey Zavatski-Starks.  

These students hail from Dryden, Ithaca, Lansing, Newfield and Trumansburg schools and competed in animal science, cosmetology, criminal justice, culinary arts, digital media, heavy equipment and welding. 

The digital media production team of Blakely and Hernandez from Newfield took first place for the video they created and are headed to nationals. 

In addition to those mentioned in this week’s article, congratulations to each of these fine students — they are the workforce of our future! 

Sunday brunch at Casper’s 

Casper’s Kitchen, 118 Main St., will feature its after-church special brunch buffet May 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. There will be special buffet offerings at a cost of $10 per person. Casper’s regular hours are 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. 

Groton Rural Cemetery 

The Groton Rural Cemetery Association will hold its annual meeting for lot owners at 7 p.m. May 24 at the Masonic Building, on the corner of Main Street and Lincoln Avenue. This meeting will be followed by the annual meeting of the association’s board of trustees.