The Warwick Area Career and Technical Center is preparing to pack Dave’s Bar and Grill on Post Road as their first fundraiser to send eight students to Atlanta for the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference.

The breakfast, which will be held from 8-10 a.m. on Saturday, will be the first of two fundraisers. The second is a June golf tournament.

The conference will be held from June 24 to 28, and will showcase students in various competitions related to their fields of study. WACTC students that won gold medals in SkillsUSA’s statewide competition have been invited to represent the state on a national level.

Gold medal winners from WACTC are Marissa Colon, in cosmetology, Zachary LaChapelle and Michael Costa, in cybersecurity, Paige Poulin, in internetworking, Luca Johannis, in marine technology, Alyssa Ferns and Madison Valliere-Phelan, in nail care and Levi Renner in photography.

In total, the Career and Technical Center won 32 medals- gold, silver and bronze- in the state competition.
The financial burden this time around for WACTC is smaller than in previous years, with the costs to send the students to Atlanta at $13,600. Last year, according to WACTC cosmetology teacher Jill Shurtleff, the school raised more than $30,000 to send 18 students to the national competition.
“I’m proud of the students,” Shurtleff said. “These kids want to compete.”

Shurtleff said that attendance for the breakfast will be approximately 170 people. The final day to purchase tickets was on Tuesday, as Shurtleff said that the restaurant wanted to make sure they had a total head count in advance of the breakfast in order to prepare the amount of food necessary.
Being able to win competitions would lead to potential scholarships and other awards, which Shurtleff said would be an incredible boost for students’ futures.

“The fable is that you don’t go to college if you go to a career and tech center,” Shurtleff said. “Well, that’s not true. A lot of these kids go to college. And college is expensive.”
Once in Atlanta, Shurtleff said that the WACTC students will essentially team up with students from other schools around the state- mentioning the Providence Career and Technical Academy, the Newport Area Career and Technical Center, the East Providence Career and Technical Center and Davies High School as other schools representing Rhode Island in different categories.

“We’re all number one from Rhode Island,” Shurtleff said, “and it’s phenomenal to see.”
For those that can’t make the breakfast and wish to help the WACTC students go to Atlanta, the school will be holding a golf tournament on June 9 at Cranston Country Club to raise funds for the students as well.