Twenty Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education students earned medals at the regional SkillsUSA competition on Thursday, March 16, in Schenectady and Albany. 
The seven first-place winners and many other medal winners earned their way to the state SkillsUSA competition in Syracuse next month. State winners will advance to the national competition in June.

“I am pretty excited about winning,” said Sadie Plant, a junior at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, who took first place in the advertising design competition. “I learned a lot and I hope when going to states I can learn a lot more by learning from the other kids competing.”

These local students earned medals in the March 16 competition:

— Allyson Bates, of Berne-Knox-Westerlo, came in first in cosmetology;

— Sadie Plant, of BKW, came in first in advertising design;

— Emily Tice, of Guilderland, came in first in commercial baking;

— Andrew Trowel, of Bethlehem, came in second in carpentry services;

— Pedro “Mateo” Sanchez, of Guilderland, came in third in food prep; and

— Elaina McGrath, of Bethlehem, came in fifth in cosmetology.