Two Blazers win in annual competition

Two Blair students won first and third place at the annual Maryland SkillsUSA Championships, competitions that involve more than 600 participants around the state.

Senior Lucy Weru and junior Brenda Pereira, who are co-enrolled at Thomas Edison High School of Technology, took part in the competition earlier this month along with 38 fellow Edison students and numerous other participants across Maryland. Weru took first place in the Health Knowledge Bowl, which tests students' knowledge of various health professions from categories that include health occupations skills, applied health sciences, applied communications, applied mathematics, leadership and professional knowledge and current events.

Pereira won third place in the Nurse Assisting category, which evaluates students' ability to perform patient-care procedures through tasks such as using and identifying equipment, manipulating materials to take blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respiration, height and weight, testing urine for sugar and acetone and applying acuwrap to an ankle.

Weru will join other first-place winners to compete in the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City, which will take place the week of June 21.

The Maryland SkillsUSA Championships allow students to compete for medals, prizes and scholarships. The competition allows technical and career students to display their skills in performing tasks suited for employers' needs.

For more information on SkillsUSA, visit their website.

Check out SCO in the next few weeks for a feature on Blair's winners.