BPCC student Sara Patterson has received the Marsha Daves Memorial Scholarship from SkillsUSA, a national membership association serving high school, college and middle school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations, and for further education.
The scholarship, in memory of the legacy left by Marsha Daves, will recognize how student leaders use the personal skills they develop to be a team member, leader, employee, citizen and an effective individual that fulfills the mission of SkillsUSA. Patterson, who graduated this spring with an associate degree in communication media and who will return in the fall to pursue a second degree, will receive one annual merit-based $1,000 scholarship for college/post-secondary education and a supplementary $500 travel stipend for National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC) for being a state officer.
The Marsha Daves Memorial Scholarship was open to current SkillsUSA state officers who will be attending a college/postsecondary school in the next school year. Patterson was elected as the Louisiana SkillsUSA state president in April at the state conference in Lake Charles, LA. She and fellow student Ethan Hagan, who will serve as the state SkillsUSA vice president, will be attending three days of leadership training while at the national SkillsUSA competition in Louisville, KY, in June.
After completing her second associate degree at BPCC, Patterson will transfer to Northwestern State University to major in mass communications and minor in theatre. She credits her growth as an individual to both BPCC and her SkillsUSA involvement. “BPCC and the Communication and Performing Arts Division are responsible for my incredible growth and ability to flower from being shy and unsure into an outgoing and positive student,” says Patterson. “SkillsUSA has been responsible for taking that energy and molding a better leader and a more driven individual. I am truly honored to be able to accept the Marsha Dave’s scholarship and continue growing and learning to help others and broaden my future.”
For the scholarship application, Patterson comprised a video describing what SkillsUSA has meant to her and what her plans include as the state president. Her video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/GC56nqnXNv8
Twenty-nine BPCC students will compete in the national competition. The SkillsUSA National Championships include more than 6,000 outstanding career and technical education students –– all state contest winners –– competing hands-on in 100 different trade, technical and leadership fields. Students work against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations such as electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts. Contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry.
Sara Patterson, BPCC Communication and Performing Arts major and Louisiana SkillsUSA state president.