Two students from Eastside High School’s Institute of Culinary Arts program have qualified for the national SkillsUSA Championship to be held in June. 

According to an Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) press release, EHS seniors Austin Rogers and Reagan Yrausquin won gold medals while competing at the SkillsUSA Florida State Leadership and Skills Conference held March 30-April 2 in Jacksonville. Rogers won his medal in the Baking and Pastry category and Yrausquin won in the Restaurant Service division.  

The release said SkillsUSA competitions allow students taking part in “career and technical education programs to compete in hands-on events that require high-level technical and leadership skills, such as public speaking.” 

According to the SkillsUSA website, the goal of the competitions “is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and to keep classroom training relevant to employers’ needs.” 

With their wins at the state level, Rogers and Yrausquin have earned spots in the national competition, which will be held June 1-5 in Atlanta.  According to the release, the national SkillsUSA competition usually brings together roughly 6,000 of the U.S.’s “top students in a wide variety of fields, including culinary arts, health science, information technology and more to be assessed by expert judges.” 

Three other Eastside students also brought home medals from the state conference. The team of Zachary Wilson and Dalton Madson, both sophomores, won a silver medal in the Wedding Cake Design category. Meanwhile, junior Tory Harper won a bronze medal in the Restaurant Service category. 

“These students have shown remarkable dedication and talent in their craft,” said Chef Pamela Bedford, who directs the Institute of Culinary Arts program at Eastside, in the release. “Their success is a reflection of their hard work and commitment to excellence.”