By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Brandon — For Kiera Strange, traditional school was never something she enjoyed.
“Sitting in a classroom, it never really worked for me,” said Strange, 17. “It was really difficult for me to get my school work done and take something away from it.”
Strange is a senior at Brandon High School, and she is also currently in the culinary program at Oakland Schools Technical Campus. OSTC provides students with the opportunity to receive industry certifications, job experience, business connections and college credits.
“I saw OSTC as a way for me to actually get something from my education,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in cooking, I always cooked with my mom, so I figured why not do it and get credits for it?”
Through the culinary program and one of her chefs at OSTC, Frank Castanzo, she learned about SkillsUSA, which is a student-run program that works to help educate students on trade programs through competition. Strange is the current vice president of the Michigan chapter.
“Their goal is to close the workforce gap,” she said. “We need more skilled workers. They present it to kids as a national competition. So in competition form, you can compete in your skilled trade. They have competitions for every trade imaginable.”
This year, Strange also spoke at the conference in Atlanta. Despite not competing in her trade, Strange was able to act as a delegate with other representatives from other states and territories.
“Me and my fellow officer, we would go to meetings, a few a day, and vote on bylaws for the SkillsUSA framework,” she said. “Pretty much every state had their own delegates. California had 46, Ohio had 35, Michigan had two.”
As a delegate and an officer with the Michigan chapter, Strange said their goal is to grow their delegation and get more kids involved in career technical education.
“There’s a lot of people that the normal school system doesn’t work for, so we’re trying to get it out there that there is something you can do,” she said. “Eventually, if you’re dedicated enough, you can graduate and have more skills in a certain trade than other people your age.”
For her senior year, Strange will attend Brandon High School like normal until 10:30 a.m., then go to OSTC for the afternoon.
“In the beginning of the year, we get out certifications and stuff, and on lab days we put on our chef outfits and we have rotations in the kitchen,” she said. “Bake Shop, hot food line, pantry. And there’s a schedule of who rotates throughout the year.”
Part of the conference was also to talk to others in your field and network with other students, which they did in a unique way.
“The way that they do it is we have our name tags that go around our necks, but we have a pin trading system,” she said. “Every state and territory has their own pin. You trade pins with people all over the United States. I have like Hawaii, Puerto Rico. But it’s not only that you get the pins, but you get to talk to people from all over and make new friends.”