The SkillsUSA cities 2026 competition was said to be the biggest and best SkillsUSA cities competition thus far. SkillsUSA is an organization that helps prepare students for careers by giving them the opportunities to showcase their skills in real-world competitions.
Thomas A Edison CTE High School (TAEHS) has been the host of the SkillsUSA cities competition ever since Mr. Kalloo, TAEHS SkillsUSA advisors, became New York City SkillsUSA Area V advisor trustee. The school continues to host due to its accessibility to parking, equipment, and suitable room space.
This year, SkillsUSA hosted 35 competitions, the biggest amount yet, that ranged with various skills from cosmetology to automotives. In addition to the largest amount of competitions offered, this year at the cities competition brought about the greatest number of students yet.
Mr. Roopnarine, SkillsUSA advisor at TAEHS and the outreach coordinator for the city conferences to get professional judges and sponsors, and Mr. Kalloo are also proud to state that this year, the competitions were one hundred percent industry-ran which allowed for professional input. “If you click on partners, on the SkillsUSA website, on the home page, on the bottom, it tells you every single partner that set up booths and judged us,” said Mr. Kalloo. Some well known sponsors include Aerotek, Lowe’s, and State Farm.
The process of competing is tedious and handled by the board of SkillsUSA. “Kalloo reaches out to the various teachers and provides them with the outline of the competition and tells them about the process and selects the best representatives based on their performance,” Mr. Roopnarine said. However, it is possible to compete in other competitions outside of nominations as well.
Beyond reaching out, Mr. Kalloo and Mr. Roopnarine have also prepared students to best prepare them for the competitions. After the cities competition, the winners will be sent off to the state leveled competition with this year TAEHS sending 52 students. This year, the state level competition will be held from April 22th to the 24th in Syracuse, New York. Competitors advanced from local competitions will compete in the state level competition and may advance to the national level.
To prepare students the “cities’ competition is aligned to the state standards to prepare the students the best way possible. It has the same rigor if not more (and) we know this because the students have come back and told us that the city’s competition was harder,” Mr. Roopnarine said.
“Currently to prepare for the competition I’m doing, which is a promotional bulletin board, I use the cricut at our school during my free periods and lunch,” said Sianna Prabhudass, a 12th grade student. Overall, SkillsUSA has been well prepared for the students competing.
Other students such as Ariana Khan, a 11th grade medical assisting student, competed for competitions in their ideal career path. Ariana participated in the Medical Terminology competition.
Certain competitions must be prepared for by yourself like Medical Terminology whereas other competitions were prepared with teachers. An example of this includes Customer Service that teachers like Ms. Ragavanis helped with.
“My experience allowed me to connect and communicate with others from different schools and also allowed me to learn about their desired future careers and allowed me the importance of communication and leadership. By communicating with others I was able to understand their different perspectives. This also allows for networking with the judges who have real life experiences in specific fields which may align with your interests,” Ariana said.
Students gain different skills from SkillsUSA which includes the opportunity to network, gain public speaking skills, leadership and professionalism. “This ultimately sets an adolescent up for their future,” Ariana Khan said.
