Press Release

Metropolitan Education District 760 Hillsdale Ave San Jose, CA 95136 February 12, 2008

Contact: Michelle Alaimo Communication Specialist (408) 723-6464 malaimo@metroed.net

CCOC Students Earn Top Honors at Regional SkillsUSA Competitions

SkillsUSA named 21 Central County Occupational Center (CCOC) students Gold medal winners at its Regional Competitions held February 2 in Salinas and February 9 at CCOC in San Jose.

Seventeen other students from CCOC took home the silver. Out of 53 CCOC high school and adult students who competed in the regional competitions, 35 students will advance to represent CCOC in the SkillsUSA State competition in Fresno, California, April 10-13.

This year's Regional SkillsUSA Competition was held over two Saturdays. Students who participated in the first half of the event in Salinas competed in the fields of Air Conditioning Job Skills Demonstration, Auto Service Technician, Welding-Combination, Welding-Tig, and Collision Repair. CCOC was chosen to host the second half of the event in the fields of Air Conditioning, Diesel Technician, Forensics and Residential Wiring because CCOC could offer a high-quality hands-on competition for those areas of competition. This is the first time since the mid 1990's that a portion of the Regionals competition has been held at CCOC.

SkillsUSA is a national organization for career-technical education students within trade, technical, industrial and health occupations. Annual competitions are held to encourage students to challenge themselves within their chosen technical careers.

CCOC, a unit of MetroED, provides career-technical education for high school students in six districts: Campbell Union High School District, East Side Union High School District, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Milpitas Unified School District, San Jose Unified School District, and Santa Clara Unified School District. Students attend CCOC for half of their school day and the other half they attend their home high school.

A complete list of CCOC SkillsUSA regional winners is available upon request from Michelle Alaimo at 408-723-6464 or malaimo@metroed.net.

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MetroED is the largest career-oriented educational organization in Santa Clara County, comprised of high school and adult occupational, academic and community programs.

MetroED annually provides 50,000 diverse students with the skills to help them be productive, income-earning and tax-paying contributors to Silicon Valley.