Twenty career and technical education teachers voluntarily gave up part of their spring break in April to accompany 350 students to the New York State SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Competition in Syracuse. Their students walked off with 41 medals — 19 of them gold — in 26 different contests.

At the two-day event, the students showcased their cutting-edge skills in trade and leadership contests and competed in public speaking, job demonstrations and job interviews. Industry leaders set the test competencies and served as judges.

After UFT President Michael Mulgrew spoke proudly about the students’ accomplishments and the hardships they faced, an impromptu “bucket brigade” at the UFT Spring Education Conference on May 7 raised $10,000 to send the gold-medal winners to the weeklong national challenge in Louisville, Kentucky, in June.

“All of these medal winners are a testament to the quality of the teachers and the CTE programs we have in New York City,” said UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education High Schools Sterling Roberson. He attended the state event with Mulgrew and Anthony Harmon, the UFT director of community and parent outreach, to cheer on the city teams.

Thomas Edison CTE HS led the field, winning 10 medals, including seven gold ones. Teacher Jesse Kalloo spotlighted his student Yulini Persaud’s gold medal in technical computer applications, her first try in a trade-focused competition. “She was the only female in a male-dominated trade,” he explained.

Architecture teacher Luis Castillo of Design and Construction Academy described his student’s first-place finish in architectural drafting as a “Cinderella story.” Senior Alex Puchuela, a student from Ecuador, is living out his mother’s dream that he become an architect, Castillo said. Not only did he win a gold medal for his architectural drawings of the house he designed, but he also has won a scholarship to Parsons School of Design.

SkillsUSA is a national organization created by teachers in partnership with business, industry and labor, including the UFT, to help prepare students to enter the workforce. It has chapters in all the city’s CTE schools.