{"id":1351,"date":"2017-03-13T14:32:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T14:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1351"},"modified":"2017-03-13T14:32:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T14:32:10","slug":"tstc-allied-health-students-advance-to-skillsusa-state-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=1351","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Allied Health Students Advance to SkillsUSA State Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College recently hosted its second Allied Health SkillsUSA competition for nursing assistant and medical assistant students.<\/p>\n

SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives serving middle school, high school and college students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health professions.<\/p>\n

At TSTC, a total of eight students competed in areas such as phlebotomy, electrocardiogram (EKG) and vital sign readings, perineal care, patient transfers, CPR, first aid and medical terminology.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkillsUSA has been a great way for students to reinforce what they\u2019re learning in the classroom,\u201d said Cinthya Valdez, TSTC medical assistant instructor. \u201cIt also gives them a notable confidence in their skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez said the students spent a couple of months leading up to the competition preparing outside of class spending every Tuesday and Friday afternoon studying and getting ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are motivated to do well and advance to the state and national leve\"Allied<\/a>ls,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce they compete nationally they also become eligible for scholarships, equipment necessary for their field and internships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eight students who competed at the Allied Health SkillsUSA competition all advanced to the state competition at TSTC in Waco at the end of the month earning first, second and third place awards in their categories.<\/p>\n

For Medical Assistant student Melissa Serrato, who is only in her second semester in the program, this was her first SkillsUSA competition and she said she was shocked to learn she had received first place and second place in two categories – \u00a0Medical Assisting and Medical Terminology, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI participated not thinking I was going to win, but on the thought that I would get ahead on my skills and be ready when they came up in class,\u201d said Serrato. \u201cBut now I\u2019m going to state and I\u2019m so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serrato she has her eye on national competition and a scholarship that would help with tuition and books.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m already studying and preparing for state competition, especially because I added a new competition category,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has been a great experience and I hope to get far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nursing Assistant student Maria Gonzalez also placed in two categories. She got first place in Nurse Assisting and second place in CPR.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the extra studying and preparation was worth it,\u201d said Gonzalez. \u201cI was so nervous, but relieved when I learned I was going to state. I can\u2019t wait to see our Waco campus and compete for a spot at nationals. Kentucky here I come!\u201d<\/p>\n

The SkillsUSA national competition will be in Louisville, Kentucky in June.<\/p>\n

Valdez said she is happy with the results and is excited to see her students advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of our students. They all showed the judges what they are made of and how skilled they are,\u201d said Valdez.<\/p>\n

Judges for SkillsUSA are industry professionals who have worked in the field and understand the demands and skills needed to be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had judges from as far as Houston,\u201d she said. \u201cI just want to give a special thanks to them (judges) and to everyone who has supported us. This has a huge impact on our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Valdez, SkillsUSA also prepares students with resume building and mock interviewing, which gives participating students an advantage when searching for a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to SkillsUSA and the training they receive in class, our students are prepared and many get hired before they even graduate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) – Texas State Technical College recently hosted its second Allied Health SkillsUSA competition for nursing assistant and medical assistant students. SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives serving middle school, high school and college students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health professions. At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1355,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1351\/revisions\/1355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}