Paravi Das likes to live her life amped up and ramped up. Singing, dancing, and excelling in graphic design and performance, she is the star of her own story. Like most uplifting stories, however, it hasn’t been a constant upward trajectory. There have been bumps in the road, one in particular that seemed to bring…
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SkillsUSA national high-school vice president Melissa Moreno, a senior at San Luis (Ariz.) High School, is hardly the stereotypical “social outcast” who’s the cliched target in the bullied-student scenarios we’re most familiar with. On the contrary, she’s a vibrant extrovert, grounded in confidence and driven by a passion for leadership. And yet, Moreno claims to…
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Second chances mean a lot to Montecito (Calif.) High School advisor Nicholas Jordan. As a construction teacher for a continuation high school, Jordan knows that, for many of these students, a second chance is just what is needed. “I see myself in my students and value my ability to relate to them,” Jordan says. “I…
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George Moslener was already familiar with hard work and the value of education before his advisor, David Lanham, introduced him to SkillsUSA. Moslener’s parents own and operate Canyon Creek Irrigation, a small nursery and tree farm in Wylie, Texas. Moslener’s responsibilities in the family business include helping out with sales and billing, accounts payable and…
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Henry Balding, a SkillsUSA member and junior at South Pasadena (Calif.) High School, is one of those typical 17-year-olds. You know, the ones who build homes from the ground up, create thriving businesses, win gold medals at SkillsUSA competitions for areas they’re not even involved with at school … OK, so maybe Balding is as…
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It is often said that life is a marathon, not a sprint. Nobody knows that better than Jacqueline Limbrick, who graduated from college last May at age 58. “I started college again when I was 55,” Limbrick reflects on the ultimately fulfilling journey set in motion by unimaginable tragedy. “March 25, 2014, was a tragic…
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Life can change in an instant, as former SkillsUSA member Brad Lang knows. The decorated Marine has used his own life’s path to create a new career and to support other injured service members. The two-time SkillsUSA national medalist was always a standout. As a high school student in Michigan, he studied CNC (computer numerical…
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Did you hear the one about the woman who went straight from commercial fishing to working at a state legislature? Or from the governor’s mansion to a five-star restaurant across the country to a small-town school? And if those tales don’t give you whiplash, how about a dash of roller derby? Each of these are…
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The best teachers show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see. Instructor Jason McCuish hopes you’ll look at his amazing pupils and see for yourself how impressive they are. While McCuish likes to keep the focus on students at Lynn (Mass.) Vocational Technical Institute (LVTI), he earned his own time in…
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For Justin Jackson and Marquis Thomas, getting into robotics led to a lot more than a gold medal in their state SkillsUSA competition. It gave them a whole new outlook on education. “Just as long as I was passing the class, that’s all that mattered to me” until mentor and robotics coach Robert Lorenzo “changed…
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