By Shan Yonamine
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For the past 10 consecutive years, the SkillsUSA club has sent anywhere between 2 to 7 members to compete in the SkillsUSA Leadership conference. This year was no different; Alumna Mallory Hayase and Kara Nyuha were able to represent Hawaii in the Internetworking and Promotional Bulletin Bored categories placing fourth and second, respectively. The conference was held in Kansas City, Mo. from June 20 to 24.

“I do feel like they were very well prepared,” said SkillsUSA Graphics Adviser Tom Falenofoa in reflection of their preparation process. “A lot of (their preparation) was their own self motivation and self practice.” Hayase and Nyuha practiced technical aspects of their competitions and their prepared speeches up until the day they left to Missouri.

For Hayase, who competed in the Internetworking category of the Computer Networking chapter of the SkillsUSA club, preparation was difficult because her category involved more of  an impromptu event.  She was given a series of tests on Cisco Certified Networking standards including a lab, a customer service call and a written test. “I think because there’s so many different stations you kind of feel overwhelmed so trying just to concentrate and stay focused just through the whole thing is probably the hardest part,” stated Hayase.

Being that this was her second year going to the national conference in this category, she felt that it was imperative to beat her previous place of 5th in the 2009-2010 conference. “(It was) more of a sense of relief then anything, there was a certain amount of pressure and I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to fill those expectations but I was happy and relieved at the same time,” Hayase explained.

Nyuha’s category required preparation in a different from, she had to design a bulletin board that promoted the theme “Respecting all Perspectives”. Kara was inspired by the cover of “The Dark Side of the Moon” in which light hits a prism and fractures to show different colors. “Kara went through the whole idea about light and the spectrum,” stated Falenofoa. “When the skills hit the individual, the individual being kind of the prism, these other aspects of them then become apparent,” he continued.

However Nyuha had more than the board to worry about, as her category also required her to create a 20 page binder explaining her process and creating a 3 to 5 minute presentation explaining the reason behind her design. “She worked real hard. She actually worked months and months on this design and finally … putting it together,” stated SkillsUSA Graphics Adviser Todd Yoshizawa.

Upon the graduation of Hayase and Nyuha, all sections of the SkillsUSA club continue to prepare for next year’s conference as well as look for new recruits who have skills that will allow them to succeed in the club.