Nearly 60 Lehigh Career and Technical Institute students notched top three finishes at the SkillsUSA District 11 Championships at the Agri-Plex, Allentown Fairgrounds.

The annual competition pitted LCTI students against their peers from Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School, Career Institute of Technology, Monroe Career and Technical Institute and Upper Bucks County Technical School in more than 50 contests of skill ranging from advertising design to welding.

LCTI students racked up 16 gold medals, 19 silver medals and 23 bronze medals.

All of the event’s gold-medal winners earned a berth at this spring’s 2016 SkillsUSA Pennsylvania Leadership and Skill Championships in Hershey.

LCTI’s winners from Parkland High School included:

Gold medal (first place) winners are:

·Architectural Drafting: Harrison Williams; and

·Precision Machining Technology: Kyle Tretter.

Silver medal (second place) winners are:

·Automated Manufacturing Technology: Sean Farley;

·Automated Manufacturing Technology: Aaron Tweed;

·Cosmetology: Kasondra Pearson;

·Health Knowledge Bowl: Jade Buskirk; and

· Restaurant Service: Mckenzie Alvarez.

Bronze medal (third place) winners are:

·Automated Manufacturing Technology: Matthew Rice;

·Automotive Service Specialty: Patrick Williams;

·Automotive Service Technology: Ricardo Cruz;

·Cake Decorating: Andrew Everett; and

·CNC Technician: Spencer Werst.

Sponsored by local businesses, the championships are an opportunity for students from the region’s high schools to apply what they’ve learned in class to challenging scenarios that simulate demands of the 21st-century workplace.

They also serve as means to expose the larger Lehigh Valley community to the value of career and technical education.