Competing in their future careers

For the 300 plus students enrolled at Levittown’s Gerald R. Claps Career and Technical Center, an event on Feb. 4 brought out the competitive side of many. Numerous onlookers watched in excitement as students from its array of programs competed against each other at the annual GC Tech competition held at the Levittown Memorial Education Center. Winners of the competition will go on to compete in state-wide and even national career competitions.

“This is our opportunity for both our junior and senior students to come out and compete in our school-wide competition,” Director Frank Creter said. “Every single program is represented here and we also have interview sessions outside the rooms so our students can learn how to conduct proper interviews to secure themselves jobs.” 

With 14 regional winners, five state winners and three national competitors from last year, this group of GC Tech students had a lot to live up to. With students competing in nine different categories — culinary arts, graphic arts, police science, automotive technology, medical assisting, first aid and CPR, electrical technology, 3-D visualization and computer animation, and cosmetology — judges scored students off of high skill performance and the ability to work well under pressure.

“It’s all about preparing our kids for the industry standards, their careers and college,” Creter said, adding that the winners for each category were recognized at an awards ceremony that night. Those students will go on to a regional competition against other schools in Brentwood, and should they do well, advance to the state competition. 

The gymnasium was filled with the sounds of drills and hair dryers as the students honed in on their specific projects and raced against time. Judges from various fields came to the competition to critique the students on their work.