Seventeen Star Valley High School students competed in the Wyoming SkillsUSA competition last week in Casper. Seven of the 17 placed first in their Technical Contests, two students finished second, and one student placed third.

“This was a good year for Star Valley, as I don’t think we have ever had this many students place first in their competitions,” said Brandy Taylor, who serves as a coach to the SVHS team, in an email to SVI Media. “It was also a very fun and enjoyable group of students this year who worked hard to prepare for their events and did a few community service projects too.”

First place winners included Hailee Myers and Sydney Saltzman in Digital Cinema, Jace Perry in Carpentry, Liam Tucker and North Davis in Urban Search, and Lydia Clove and Tanner Ricks in Robotics.

Genny Goodson placed second in Extemporaneous Speaking and Scarlet Weber placed second in Architectural Design. Boen Peterson placed third in Carpentry and Myers also took third place in Prepared Speaking.

Additional students who qualified to represent SVHS in the competition include Amelia Green, Cooper Daniel, Jazz Roberts, Kassy Taylor, Maggie Daniel, McKenna Klindt and Molly Roberts.

“The winners received very nice prizes and some scholarship money donated by Casper College who hosted the event,” said Taylor. “[Casper] only places the top 2 teams in 4A, and Cheyenne East placed 1st, followed by Sheridan. Both of these schools had many more contestants than we did, so they were able to score more team points.”

Tyson Balls also served as a coach to Robotics students. Mike Mattson coached Carpentry students, and Nicki Heiner coached students in Culinary Arts and Baking.