On January 28, the Campus Center at San Bernardino Valley College was teeming with activity. Thousands of local college, high school and middle school students had arrived early to compete in the SkillsUSA Region 6 Competition, an opportunity to showcase their prowess in culinary arts, welding, automotive technology, diesel technology, crime scene investigation, robotics, web design, and many other challenging professional fields.

Students from across the Inland Empire gathered outside Campus Center for the SkillsUSA competition.

For several weeks prior, Chef Stacy Meyer — chair of SBVC’s culinary arts program and the college’s liaison with SkillsUSA coordinators — had been busy securing judges, making sure classrooms were prepared, and buying all of the necessary supplies for the day of the competition. “Now I am ready,” she said, “for an event that goes off without a hitch and gives students a chance to shine.”

SBVC culinary arts students hug after a stressful competition.

Several intense hours later, the competition was finally over, and hundreds of jubilant competitors and their families gathered in the Auditorium to receive recognition and awards from judges. Many medalists were SBVC students, who would now be advancing to the state-level competition in April.

“Our students will be competing against other students from all over the state— the best of the best, if you will,” said Chef Meyer. “If one is lucky enough to win at national level, they will be awarded scholarships to various colleges. These events are sponsored by some of the largest companies in America.”

Among SBVC students, there were 23 gold, silver and bronze medalists: Julian Hopfert (diesel technology), Randy Perry (diesel technology), Hunter Hale (diesel technology), Ashley Amann (culinary arts), Melissa Ontiveros (culinary arts), Tiffany King (culinary arts), Emily Smith (culinary arts), Jasmine Jones (culinary arts), Gabriella Mejia (culinary arts), Alexandra Medina (culinary arts), Amanda Gutierrez (culinary arts), Lynn Baeza (culinary arts), Peter Dalton (welding), Jasmine Hernandez (welding), Alex Diaz (welding), Larry Ashford (welding), Dulce Benevidas (welding), Pedro Beltran (welding), Ricardo Arellano (welding), Juan Patzau (HVAC), Thomas Amaya (HVAC), Jacob DelRincon (HVAC), and Miguel Arenas (machinist technology).SBVC diesel technology medalists Julian Hopfert, Randy Perry, and Hunter Hale pose after winning in their competition.

“It was an exciting day and we all learned a lot,” said welding instructor Daniel Comiskey. “I am really looking forward to our winners competing at the state level in San Diego this April.”

For more information on SkillsUSA competitions and medalists, visit www.skillsusa.org.