SkillsUSA 2026 Regionals

On Wednesday, March 18, 2026, eighteen LIHSA students participated in the Long Island Regional competition for SkillsUSA at Suffolk Community College. These students were Alexa Byers (Carle Place UFSD), Nayah Coicou (Freeport UFSD), Alina Cooper (East Northport UFSD), Isabella D’Alessandro (North Shore CSD), Tabitha Freeny (Long Beach City SD), Norah Gaulrapp (Carle Place UFSD), Molly Gorelick (Half Hollow Hills CSD), Ava Kang (Carle Place UFSD), Peyton Lamorte (East Meadow), Tagan Moran (Levittown UFSD), Kseniia (XEN), Naimushyna (Locust Valley CSD), AndaLucia Navetta (Wantagh UFSD), Kingsley Ngitngit (Syosset CSD), Anthony Scelta (Bethpage UFSD), Julianna (NZ) Schiebelhuth (Locust Valley CSD), Nathan Sterling (Freeport UFSD), Alessia Surdich (Valley Stream CHSD), and Maria Vanegas (Hempstead UFSD).

LIHSA Faculty member Robyn Morgan was instrumental in bringing LIHSA students to SkillsUSA, now in the third year and preparing them for the competition. Robyn reflects, “LIHSA students did not disappoint! They rose to the challenge and represented our school in the best ways possible; Lots of hardware! Go LIHSA! Syracuse here we come!”

Alessia Surdich is a junior who has been a LIHSA student since September. She describes the experience of competing in SkillsUSA as, “Unlike anything I ever have done before. It was my first competition. It was the first time we had a deadline to make a film. Andy and I had 2 weeks to make it from start to finish. We were given a genre and prompt which helped guide creativity.” She credits Ms. Morgan who helped prepare them for SkillsUSA. “Ms. Morgan helped us so much. We were mentally prepared and used cinematography, lighting, working with actors – everything we studied in film.”

Alexa Byers studies Visual Art at LIHSA. Her task at SkillsUSA was to design a logo, letterhead, and business card for a fictitious company in Sleepy Hollow called Sugar and Spice within a two hour time frame. She shares, “Since the company is located in Sleepy Hollow, we did a twist on Halloween and created a logo that was a croissant with double horns.” She went on to say that SkillsUSA, “Was really nerve-wracking because other talented people I was completed against. Overall it was fun and competitive. Not just the competition itself, but hanging out with people in other schools doing similar things.” Alexa felt prepared by the competition by learning Adobe Illustrator at LIHSA and practicing in class.

Several students placed as medalists in the regional competition:

PIN DESIGN
Maria Vanegas (3rd Place)

ADVERTISING DESIGN
Alina Cooper (3rd Place)
Alexa Byers (2nd Place)

DIGITAL CINEMA
Tagan Moran & Kingsley Ngitngit (2nd Place)
Andalucia Navetta & Alessia Surdich (1st Place)

TV/VIDEO
Norah Gaulrapp & Nayah Coicou (3rd Place)

Twelve LIHSA students will be headed to Syracuse for the State Competition April 21 – 23. They are:

Digital Cinema: Alessia Surdich and Andalucia Navetta

TV/Video: Nayah Coicou and Norah Gaulrapp

Promotional Bulletin: Nathan Sterling, Nathan (NZ) Schiebelhuth and Kingsley Ngitngit

Chapter Display: Molly Gorelick, Payten LaMorte, and Tab Freeny

Journalist: Anthony Scelta and Tagen Moran

Good luck to our students at States!