Keira Baitsholts, HVAC SkillsUSA State Champion
Keira Baitsholts of Greenville Central School District and Jaxon Haigh of Hudson City School District placed first in their respective event at the statewide SkillsUSA Championships.
SkillsUSA Championships are annual career competition events that showcase the best Career and Technical Education (CTE) students in the nation. Competitions begin locally and continue through the state and national levels. In a typical year, about 50-60 students compete at the state level in a given event. Competitions were performed virtually this year.
Baitsholts, in the HVAC & Renewable Energies program at the Columbia-Greene Educational Center (CGEC), competed in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration event. Baitsholts was given three scenarios in which she wrote a summary of how to identify and correct each issue and performed repairs. Scenarios included a frozen compressor coil, a leak in a gas line and a faulty compressor.
Haigh, in the EMT program at CGEC, competed in the CPR/First Aid event. Haigh first completed a 50-question test in CPR/First Aid. For the performance portion of the event, Haigh performed CPR on an adult with an automated external defibrillator, joint stabilization, bleeding control and anaphylaxis control.
Jaxon Haigh, CPR/First Aid SkillsUSA State Champion
“I am so proud,” said SkillsUSA Advisor Rosemary Helinski. “The students and their instructors really worked hard
to make this happen.”
Both Baitsholts and Haigh will compete virtually in the national SkillsUSA Championships the week of June 20.
Arieonna Thomas of Rensselaer City School District placed third in the Related Technical Math event at the statewide SkillsUSA Championships. Thomas is in the Heavy Equipment Operation & Maintenance program at the Rensselaer Educational Center (REC).
