On January 16, 2020 two advisors for the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute SkillsUSA team and a team member spoke at the weekly Rotary Club of Lynn luncheon meeting. Team advisor Jason McCuish and co-advisor Claire Price, along with team member Bryan Lopez addressed the Rotarians. They spoke about a project the SkillsUSA team is leading this school year, which is the project to have built an all-inclusive playground at the Harrington elementary school. Inclusive playgrounds are designed to provide a safe place where children of all abilities can play together, and are developmentally appropriate for children with and without disabilities.
Jason McCuish, said the chapter decided on Harrington Elementary School for its efforts because the school has a large percentage of kids with special needs
The SkillsUSA proposal, which has been approved by the School Committee, is not modest. The team is aiming to initially raise $100,000 to purchase and install ADA-accessible playground equipment at the school, according to McCuish. So far they have raised about $50,000. Ultimately they would like to raise $300,000. If you would like to help, donations may be made payable to: LVTI SkillsUSA Lynn and sent to Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, ATTN: SkillsUSA, 80 Neptune Blvd, Lynn MA 01902.
There is also a GoFundMe that is tracking progress and has additional information about the project: https://www.gofundme.com/f/inclusive-playground-lynn-ma
In addition to the project, the presentation included comments about the 2019 National SkillsUSA competition held in the spring. Bryan Lopez told the group that seven members of the Lynn team, along with advisor Jason McCuish and co-advisor Claire Price, were shocked to find out they were getting not one, but three gold medal team awards at the National SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky. They brought home the gold for the community service award, the community action award and were recognized as the National Outstanding Model of Excellence.
“It was a real Cinderella moment being able to bring home that gold,” Jason added. “We brought home seven individual gold medals, every one of the team who competed won gold, and we were also recognized with the golden standard of the President’s Volunteer Service Award for service to our country.”
The high school team struck gold once again when, to his surprise, McCuish won the title for national SkillsUSA advisor of the year in his sixth year with the chapter.
