DCMO BOCES student Justina Parsons of Greene competes in the live welding challenge portion of the SkillsUSA National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. (Submitted Photo)


NORWICH, NY – For Justina Parsons of Greene, the last week of June was a whirlwind. A senior at Greene Central School, she finished her classes and finals, then traveled to Syracuse to catch a plane to Atlanta, Georgia, for several days of welding competition in the SkillsUSA National Championships, returning home on the same day as her high school graduation ceremony.

Justina was enrolled in the DCMO BOCES Welding Program at the Alan D. Pole Campus in Norwich, where she learned a variety of welding methods and techniques. One of her projects was a welded bird sculpture, which she entered in SkillsUSA regional and state competitions. In April, she traveled to the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, where she finished at the top of the field in the state SkillsUSA competition for Welding Sculpture. That earned her a spot in the national championships, which is how she ended up flying to Atlanta with her mother Rachel Parsons, her grandmother Mary VanWinagen, and DCMO BOCES SkillsUSA chapter advisors and teachers Erin Engle-Thomas and Ann French for five days, just before her graduation. They joined 6,000 competitors and thousands of spectators from across the United States at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, a huge venue that hosted competitions in 115 different leadership and skills categories. “The SkillsUSA National Competition is an enormous, impressive event,” according to Ms. Engle-Thomas. The competition bills itself as “the premier showcase of America’s most highly skilled career and technical education students” and “one of the largest hands-on workforce development events in the world.” Both advisors enjoyed the experience. “It was so amazing to see the hard work and determination of so many students,” said Ms. French. “The talent there was truly something to behold.”

Of course, most of their attention was focused on the young DCMO BOCES competitor. “It was so much fun to watch Justina experience this opportunity,” said Ms. French. “She never hesitated to step outside her comfort zone to meet new people, speak with industry professionals, or try something new. She was very professional in all aspect of her competitions, and even though she was nervous, she held her head high and did her very best!”

For Justina, the competition consisted of written portions, interviews, evaluation of her original bird sculpture and hands-on “live” welding challenges to demonstrate her skills. “I was a little nervous about the welding,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know I’d be drawing my challenge out of a hat,” referring to the random process of assigning different welding challenges to each competitor. “My sculpture was all MIG (metal inert gas welding), mostly tack weld. Most of the sculptures are MIG because it binds a lot of different materials.” Justina, of course, drew a challenge that required TIG (gas tungsten arc welding), a different type of welding that she was less experienced with. “That’s okay, I got to do something a little more difficult for myself. My welds were good,” she added.

She credits her DCMO BOCES instructor, Jaan Aarismaa, with helping her prepare. “I was mostly doing MIG, and he made me do some more with TIG,” she said. “I think he knew I might have to use it in the competition.” In the end, Justina did quite well, finishing 9th out of 44 competitors in her category and earning a Skills Point Certificate.

Not surprisingly, Justina found the experience busy and memorable. “It was really amazing. There were lots of options for things to do,” she said. “And so many people from around the world,” who she met as she traded pins with them. As the only competitor from DCMO BOCES, she had a bunch of unique pins to trade with others, and ended up with a collection of over 20 different pins. “It was a lot of fun!”

From airports to subway stations, Justina and her group navigated to and around Atlanta when she wasn’t competing, an experience she described as both “a little overwhelming” and “cool!” That included a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. “It was so cool! There were so many different things there, including a tunnel under the water, with sharks around you,” she said. She was also pleased that her grandmother was able to accompany her on the trip. “It was just amazing getting to do it with her” and her mother, she said. She also appreciates the two DCMO BOCES advisors who accompanied her, saying “make sure there’s a ‘thank you’ in there– I’m very happy that they were there. There’s so many other things they could’ve been doing with their time, but they were there with me.”

After days of competition, sightseeing, and an arena-scale awards presentation, Justina packed up her pins and other souvenirs (“they gave us like 30 t-shirts,” she says) and the group headed to the airport to catch their plane back to Syracuse and a quick ride back to Greene. And yes, she said, she did make it home in time for graduation.

DCMO BOCES is a regional provider of educational services to students and schools, including adult learning programs, and operates school campuses in Sidney Center and Norwich. To find out more about their services and programs, visit www.dcmoboces.com.