SkillsUSA Winners
Foundations of Teaching/Advanced Teaching Methods State Champion Banners
2024 Valeria Garcia, Kira Dergo, and Mackenzie Enger win at SkillsUSA State
Advanced/Foundations brought 5 students to the State Competition for SkillsUSA Illinois. Early Childhood Education, Preschool Interactive Display, and Teaching & Learning Professional Portfolio were the 3 competitions available for these students to compete. Valeria Garcia and Kira Dergo opted to compete in all 3 competitions. Mackenzie Enger competed in 2 events while Paige Walker and Tanna Curry decided to design a preschool bulletin board. To compete in the Professional Portfolio, the students are required to write a lesson plan, execute that plan in front of students, videotape that presentation, and then evaluate the entire process. This competition is similar to the edTPA that teaching candidates submit to obtain their teaching license. This is a very detailed process that requires a lot of background knowledge, preparation, and dedication. The actual competition involves the students presenting their portfolios to a panel of judges. GAVC is pleased to announce that Valeria Garcia is the State Champion, Mackenzie Enger took the bronze, and Kira Dergo finished 5th in the state. Early Childhood Education is a competition that involves an interview, a book reading, writing a lesson plan that involves creating sample projects, and presenting that lesson plan to the judges. The contestants are given an hour to complete all of these components of the competition. Valeria Garcia was awarded the silver medal and Mackenzie Enger finished 5th. The Preschool Interactive Bulletin Board is a competition in which the students create a developmentally appropriate interactive bulletin board before the competition. We took two bulletin boards to the state competition. The students worked tirelessly to create winning boards. They evaluated, redesigned, and made last-minute adjustments to put forth the best work possible for the judges. They were making changes up until the very last minute before leaving for Peoria. Valeria and Kira’s “O-Fish-ally Counting” was selected as the winning board. Congratulations, Val and Kira on becoming State Champions in that competition. Val is the first GAVC student to place in all the competitions that she competed in while competing at SkillsUSA Illinois. This is a huge accomplishment and a testament to her hard work and dedication to her craft. Advanced/Foundations is very proud of all of you.
2023 Marianna and Rachel State Champions
2023 Advanced Teaching Methods Students Marianna Hren and Rachel Hall competed in the Early Childhood Competition and Teaching & Professional Portfolio competitions. For the ECE competition, they had to write a lesson plan, create a project based on that lesson plan, present that lesson plan to a panel, read a story to the same panel, and complete an interview for that competition. Rachel Hall finished on top of the podium and is GAVC's 1st STATE Champion in that event. She traveled to Nationals and finished 11th in the Nation. For the Portfolio competition, the two girls had to create a lesson plan for their site location, videotape the lesson, and then evaluate the entire process. The competition is a presentation in front of a panel explaining their process. It is similar to the edTPA that teaching candidates go through to gain their license. Marianna Hren is the State Champion and Rachel Hall earned the silver. Congratulations girls. Their names will be added to a new State Championship banner!
Lillian Ochoa wins State
2022 Advanced Teaching Methods Student Lillian Ochoa competed in the Early Childhood Competition. She wrote a lesson plan, created a projected based on that lesson plan, presented that lesson plan to a panel, read a story to the same panel, and completed an interview for that competition. She finished in 4th place... such a great accomplishment. Then, Lillian and Kassi Cook competed in the Preschool Interactive Bulletin Board. They created Ladybug Fun at school that centered around one-to-one correspondence and color recognition. GAVC has another STATE CHAMPION! Congratulations girls. Their names will be added to a new State Championship banner in the fall.
OH! The Colors You Can See was completed by Brittany Shannon and Zuleima Ocha in 2009. It was ECE 1st State Champion.
Samantha Carpenter and Kristin Dziuban followed that board up with Eggstravaganza in 2010 becoming ECE 2nd State Champion!
2012 brought the State Champion Board back to GAVC with Hanging with the Alphabet completed by Sydney Corrigan and Talia Persico. BreAnna Johnson was awarded the 2nd Place board that year as well. It is the first year that we took the top two spots.
2013 brought ECE a State Champion and a 3rd place finish. Maverick Nave's Fishing for Numbers was named State Champ. Finishing on the podium in 3rd place with their Alphabet Bananza was returning State Champs - Sydney Corrigan and Talia Persico.
2014 ECE competed with Number Splash created by Jessica Mazur, Megan Rutherford, and Alexis Greenback. They made it up to 2nd place on the podium.
2015 - Carlie Kenney and Natalie Wold took their Flying Numbers all the way to the State Champion position. Bryn Taylor and Mackey followed right behind them with their Leaping Into Numbers. ECE took 1st and 2nd!
2016 Andrea Wydeveld and Sarah Bowlin finished as State Champs with their Sailing Away board!
2017 - ECE finished in the top 2 spots. Our State Champion board, A Day At the Beach was completed by Emily Lindmark and Amy Waldron. Our 2nd Place board, Blasting Off was completed by Maegan Goocher, Corrinne Day, and Emily Lamaze.
2018 ECE was able to finish with a State Champion Board and a 2nd Place Board. Jazmynn Geist, Erin Kindelspire, and Logan Gossett created Bubble Gum Fun which finished as the State Champion. Kyla Hill, Carleen Krier, and Jeanette Serrano created Right Off the Bat which finished in 2nd Place.
2019 ECE finished with a 2nd and 3rd place finish. Lexi Smyk, Angelica Olivares, and Hannah Hitchcock created All Aboard which finished in 2nd Place with the silver medal. Jeanette Serrano, Logan Gossett, and Cassie Labanowski created Scooping Numbers which placed 3rd with the bronze medal.