Vocational Students Test Their Skills

Within three hours, Darren Barr had to make 40 tastefully decorated hors d’oeuvres and canapes, along with a large salad.

“It’s a little bit more than I expected--sitting here with a bunch of people you don’t know, competing, doing the best you can,” said Darren, 15, of West Hills as he cut snow peas and prepared cucumber rounds topped with seasoned cream cheese.

Barr, a Camino Real High School student, wasn’t alone in feeling the pressure. About 550 students from about 35 high schools and colleges across Southern California competed in various categories in the regional Skills USA Competition on Saturday at West Valley Occupational Center.

Top students in the various competitions, sponsored by Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, can advance to state and national contests. But for the majority of Saturday’s contestants, the competition was about improving skills and making contacts, organizers said.

Many students who want to attend vocational schools instead of four-year colleges benefit from the competition with their peers, said Brad Walsh, a Vocational Industrial Clubs coordinator who teaches auto mechanics at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra.

“That’s where we come in. As a state, we don’t serve the middle-level kids too much,” Walsh said. “Nobody really takes care of them. We need to rectify that, if we want our society to keep growing.”

Participants also experience what working in the real world is like, said Susan Holtz, a West Valley Occupational Center culinary arts instructor.

“They learn to work individually, under stress, which is what the food industry requires,” Holtz said. “The goal is to motivate and encourage a higher self-esteem.”

In the carpentry competition, students had three hours to build a short partition wall using a blueprint.

But amid the hammering and sawing, Christina Aguilar, 17, of Rosemead took the pressure in stride. “I like cutting. I like putting things together,” she said.