Career and technical center students from Cranston and Warwick flew to Atlanta late last month to compete against other career and technical schools. They brought home eight awards, some individual and some team, reaching as high as fourth place.

Back in April, 18 Cranston students and 14 Warwick students received gold medals at the state level, allowing them to move on to compete at the national level.

From June 24-27, the students competed as part of SkillsUSA’s National Leadership & Skills Conference, held at the Georgia World Congress Center. In total, 6,500 students from all over the United States battled in 114 competitions in the SkillsUSA Championships for a variety of scholarships and prizes.

Cranston Area Career & Tech students won several awards. The school’s Health Knowledge Bowl Team – Victoria Badger, Janvi Patel, Mia Santomassimo and Amy Zhang, came in fourth place. Colin Williams and James Wright, from the Interactive Digital Media program, came in 13th place in 3D Visualization and Animation. Cranston East student Mark Lizarda took 11th place in Medical Technology.

Warwick Area Career & Tech student Cali Hidalgo-Stafford was awarded fourth place in the Pin Design competition for her Rhode Island clam chowder pin. 

Other Warwick students claiming awards include Connor Jackson, an Engineering and Design student who received 13th place in the Technical Drafting competition. Cosmetology student Jaden Brown placed 21st in the Cosmetology category, and Information Technology and Cyber Security student Noah Durand got 29th place in Internetworking. Lastly, a Carpentry team consisting of David Bagian, Robert Holland, Cael Shanley and Kason Wirtz was awarded 24th place in Carpentry and Electricity.

The following are the Cranston and Warwick students who attended the SkillsUSA Championships, along with the categories they competed in:

Cranston Area Career & Technical Center

Gabriella Aurecchia - First Aid, CPR

Victoria Badger - Health Knowledge Bowl

Arianna Chay - Community Service

Audrey Dayrit - Cranston State Officer 2026

Saidee Delprete - Job Skills Demonstration A

Coby Howard - Career Pathways Showcase, Health Science

Nathan Kempe - Career Pathways Showcase, Health Science

Mark Lizarda - Medical Terminology

Janvi Patel - Health Knowledge Bowl

Larisa Poghosyan - Community Service

Jace Roberts - Career Pathways Showcase, Health Science

Mia Santomassimo - Health Knowledge Bowl

Amelia Tindall - Job Skills Demonstration Open

Colin Williams - 3D Visualization and Animation

James Wright - 3D Visualization and Animation

Anthony Yan - Related Technical Math

Chanel Yan - Community Service

Amy Zhang - Health Knowledge Bowl

Warwick Area Career & Technical Center

David Bagian - Carpentry and Electricity

Jaden Brown - Cosmetology

Noah Durand - Internetworking

Cali Hidalgo-Stafford - Pin Design

Robert Holland - Carpentry and Electricity

Connor Jackson - Technical Drafting

Cael Shanley - Carpentry and Electricity

Kason Wirtz - Carpentry and Electricity