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McCann Students Successful in National Competition

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Four McCann students have returned from the Skills USA national competition with stories of success.

McCann Technical School graduate Benjamin Boisvert received a gold medal in sheet metal working during the week long Skills USA competition in Kansas City. Out of 30 students from throughout the country, Boisvert won gold, making him the best in the country.

A Readsboro, Vt., native, Boisvert said it was special to bring back a gold medal to his small hometown.

"I come from a town of less than 600 people and going out there where it is so huge, it is really special to bring something like this back to such small town," Boisvert said. "You are competing against others from huge areas … and it means more to the small community."

Boisvert said there were written and hands-on aspects to the competition. He said he was surprised how easily he was able to complete his challenge.

"What we actually had to make was stuff I had done in shop," he said. "So it wasn’t anything new."

Principal Justin Kratz said this speaks volumes about the instructors at McCann.

“It lets us know that what our instructors are doing is top shelf, and they are getting these kids ready for the best possible outcomes outside of school,” Kratz said. "They are preparing the kids for exactly what they need: to be out in the world working.”

Although Boisvert humbly accepted his award, Kratz reiterated the importance of it.  

"Thirty kids from 30 different states coming from high schools with 1,500 to 2,000 students ... to get it down to that 30 is pretty fierce," he said. "Metal fabrication and sheet metal working is a staple of every vocational, school so it’s not a selective program, so you have to be good."

Brian Dougherty, Laura Heritage and Samantha Dorwin also returned from Skills USA Nationals as state officials representing Massachusetts.

As officials, these three students had a different challenge at Skills USA: to meet with national officer candidates and elect the one they feel would best represent Skills USA as a whole.

"They are the ones meeting with CEOs, they are the ones meeting with government officials representing Skills USA, and careers in technical education, so it was important to us that we elected the best candidates," Dougherty said.

Dougherty said it was a "once in a life time experience," including doing things like having lunch with the CEO of Snap-On Tools. The students also had the chance to meet actor Mike Rowe, who used footage from Skills USA for his upcoming television show on CNN.

The weeklong event was held at Bartle Hall. Six-thousand students from across the country competed against each other. Kratz said the scale of the competition was massive.

"You have essentially something like the Boston Garden … filled with a huge stage and huge flat screens," he said. "The venue is 16 football fields long; you look in there and the Mack Trucks that are parked in there look like matchbox cars."

Heritage was impressed by the size of the completion and the professionalism of the competitors.

"It was just so unique because it was so humongous and so broad, and we met … kids from everywhere in the country," Heritage said. "The biggest thing I took away was the immense leadership of all of the high school students; it is just crazy to see how kids my age took charge."

Dorwin agreed that it was amazing to see so many different people.

"I thought it was really cool to meet people from all over the place and kind of see the difference between all of the states," Dorwin said.

Kratz said that as a state, Massachusetts "cleaned house." He said Massachusetts finished second in the country right behind Florida.

Both Dougherty and Boisvert have graduated from McCann. Dougherty plans to attend UMass Amherst to study Biology now Boisvert works for Adams Plumbing and Heating. Both Heritage and Dorwin will return as officials next year.

All in all, the students and faculty wish to get more students involved in Skills USA and add to McCann’s success.

"Not a lot of people know about Skills USA outside of the organization, and we get asked about it all of the time," Heritage said. "You don’t know how to answer it because it really is being involved as closely as we are and you can’t even bring words to the experience, and it really is life-changing. I am so glad I am involved, and I am so glad I picked this school."

Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:15PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.

 

More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.

 

Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.

 

One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 

 

"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."

 

Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.

 

Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.