SYRACUSE – Eight Capital Region BOCES students earned medals at the New York state SkillsUSA competition that concluded April 24, including two who won state championships.

The students won the medals competing against more than 3,000 of their peers in numerous work-place skills competitions, ranging from welding and nursing to cooking and machining. Eighty Capital Region BOCES students from more than a dozen school districts took part in the competition at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse.

Debra Toy, a SkillsUSA regional officer and a social worker at Capital Region BOCES, said the competition was the “largest ever competition at the state level.”

Capital Region BOCES medalists, their competition, BOCES programs and home school districts are as follows:  

Gold

Ryan Gurdyal, Internet of Things, Network Technology, Schenectady

Wyatt Strobeck, Welding, Welding and Metal Fabrication, Middleburgh

Silver

Dylan Gallagher, Heavy Equipment Operations, Heavy Equipment Repair and Operation (HERO), Cobleskill-Richmondville

Cheyenne Kaminski, Baking and Pastry Arts, Culinary Arts and Hospitality Technology, Scotia-Glenville

Bronze 

Nora Edgar, Action Skills Basic, Cosmetology, Scotia-Glenville

Hunter Goss, Related Technical Math, Manufacturing and Machining Technology, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk

Seamus McWatters, Auto Refinishing Technology, Automotive Collision Technology, South Colonie

Chris Urgento, Auto Service Technology, Automotive Trades Technology, Scotia-Glenville

The Gold medalists advanced to the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta in June. 

“We are all extremely pleased with the success of our students and the SkillsUSA chapters on both campuses,” Toy said.