ELLSWORTH - From Hancock County to Atlanta, Georgia, some of our HCTC students had an incredible experience at the SkillsUSA National Competition this summer- and a few of them even came home with some hardware!
After winning gold in the Maine state competition, 15 HCTC students flew south to show off some of the skills they’ve acquired throughout their years at the technical center. Zachary Bray (Criminal Justice), Donald Craig (Diesel Technology) and Daynea Morle (Job Interview) each competed as individuals. Four teams of students went, as well- Callie Chase, Amelia Madigan, and Brennan Beattie were state champions in Chapter Display; Ashlynne Horn, Abigail Billings, and Henry Trombetto competed in Promotional Bulletin Board; Connor Kane, Senric Hanna, and Cameron Carter were in the Career Pathways - Industrial and Engineering Technology competition; and Grace Firley, Abigail Farricker, and Willa Dow competed in Career Pathways - Health Sciences.
As is the case every year, the HCTC team joined around 19,000 who flocked to Atlanta for the 2025 National Leadership and Skills Conference, including students from around the country, industry partners, instructors, and more.
“What's super awesome about nationals is- of course competing is awesome- but it's meeting people from everywhere,” says HCTC Skills USA co-advisor Meghan Stubbs. “You have people from all of these different areas of the US and territories, and then just people of different cultures, different expectations, different CTE schools, and it's middle school all the way through post-secondary. So you're just interacting with so many people that you probably wouldn't necessarily get to interact with, especially when we're thinking about Maine.”
It wasn’t just the interactions that the HCTC group took back home with them- but a few medals, too! Grace Firley, Abigail Farricker, and Willa Dow, three Health Occupations students, earned silver medals in the Career Pathways – Health Science competition.
“That was super awesome,” says Stubbs, who is also the Board Chair for SkillsUSA Maine. “This is my fifth time going to nationals, and I’ve never seen [a medalist] for HCTC. We were beyond excited for them. I’m not surprised- they’re three super awesome kids.”
The goal of their specific competition is to create a project based on their field of study that benefits their class, school, community or industry, and then present that project at competition. Through their experience working in CNA rotations in nursing homes, Grace, Abby, and Willa developed an app that helps dementia patients and other patients with speech issues directly communicate their needs with their nurses.
“It has very specific medical terminology on it that a nurse would try and use with a patient, and a lot of times, those words can be difficult to say. Sometimes, even saying your toileting needs, sometimes that can be hard,” Stubbs says. “So they had all of those things in different categories that, in turn, you could go through and put on an iPad or something for it to be easier and more accessible. They gave this big presentation to judges, and then they also, the following day, had to give their presentation to the public.”
At the convention, they were even approached by a medical devices company about developing the app for full-time use!
In all, it was a terrific showing for the 15 representatives from HCTC. Some students were making the trip for the third time in their careers! In each category, the individuals and teams finished in the top-20 of their respective field, including another top-10 finish in the Career Pathways competition, and 12 of the 15 students were awarded skill points for their presentations!
“This year, we said, ‘This was such an awesome group of kids,’” Stubbs says. “They were really just there for the experience as a whole. And so it was really nice to, in turn, be able to just watch them live their best lives down there and put their best foot forward.”
HCTC plans to send another team to the 2026 National Skills and Leadership Conference, scheduled for early June and back in Atlanta- stay tuned for more!
