What’s recently happened?
The Hammond Area Career Center (ACC) has been buzzing with happiness these last few weeks as students returned from HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) and SkillsUSA state competitions. The ACC sent 60 students to HOSA, with four of them placing in the top three. Mackenzie Horvat placed third in Assisting, Adam Glass and Brandon Veldez-Chavez placing second in EMT, and finally, Aramia Gutierrez placed second in Extemporaneous Writing. These students will be moving on to the international competition this June.
As for the 87 students who went to the SkillsUSA state competition this past weekend, the ACC had 25 students place in the top three of their competitions. There will be nine students moving on to the national competition this June as well. These students are: Abigail Salamanca in Prepared Speech; Azariah in Job Interview; Mia Pulido in Commercial Roofing; Adrian Contreras in Carpentry; Caleb Bracey in Criminal Justice; Jack Correa, Shaun Former-Serrano, Scarlett LaBuda and Jahnei Smith in Video News Production.
Of the nine students heading to the SkillsUSA national competition this summer two students, Jahnei Smith and Scarlett LaBuda, are repeat state champions and the only SkillsUSA competitors from the ACC returning to nationals for the second year in a row.
What’s coming up?
Since the preparation for the state competitions has come and gone, the ACC will be focusing on certifications for most of the classes offered here. Second year students have been applying their skills at internships all year and are coming into the final weeks to perfect and showcase their abilities. First year students have been looking into continuing in their CTE (Career and Technical Education) program or changing the program they want to go into. With 15 different programs to choose from, students have the opportunity to learn a multitude of skills in their two years at the ACC.
In addition to this, students in many of the courses have been preparing for the mock casualty event that will be held on May 5. This event is to help students put more of a realistic spin on the skills they have been learning and using. Students from a variety of classes such as cosmetology, criminal justice, EMT, and culinary will be joining forces to make this event possible. This event has been heavily anticipated in years prior and has been picking up steadily after the classes were unable to have this event during the pandemic years.
Staff spotlight:
Instructor of the criminal justice program, Corporal Audrey Randle, has been teaching at the ACC for seven years with five of them being full time. This past weekend at the SkillsUSA state competition, Randle had the opportunity to watch one of her second year students place first and win a spot in the national criminal justice competition.
“When I heard one of the criminal justice students place third I thought he had swept and took the top three,” Randle said. “When it read we did not have the second place spot I just knew it was him because he had the time to prepare.”
Randle has enjoyed watching her students gain realistic knowledge of the criminal justice field. She has taken her students to the next level with the internship that her program offers.
“We are actually using practical skills and gaining experience on a level they probably will not see in college,” Randle said. “I am with them in the field and I am able to walk them through the steps and explain everything they are looking at.”
Randle worked for the Lake County Sheriff’s department for roughly 10 years before she retired and began teaching at the ACC full time. This experience has significantly helped her students when they are out on their internship because of the knowledge Randle has gained as a former deputy.
Student spotlight:
Caleb Bracey is a senior at Lake Central High School and a second year student in the criminal justice program. Bracey was able to secure the first place finish at SkillsUSA state this weekend in the criminal justice category. Last year, Bracey was the second place finisher and that just drove him to work even harder for his senior year.
“I was just going to go in and kind of wing it,” Bracey said. “I knew it was going to be the same as last year and I was trying to think of ways to make me be different and stand out to the state troopers.”
Bracey’s whole game plan going into this was to stand out, be different and make connections while he was in Indianapolis.
“I felt really prepared going into this and there was not a lot of nervousness going into it,” Bracey said. “The part that really had me getting anxious was when we were at the awards ceremony and they called my competition second to last on their list.”
Bracey plans to continue his education at Indiana University (IU) Northwest and study criminal justice as well as join the police academy that IU Northwest offers. After college Bracey hopes to be a secret service agent.