Michelle Gosselin, 18, recently graduated from Monty Tech with a specialization in Early Childhood Education, and will be returning this semester to begin her college career. But she has already proven her worth in a school wide competition.

    In June, she and some schoolmates competed in Skills USA in Kansas City. Michelle received the gold medal in her division of early childhood education.

    “It’s a statewide competition, and as a gold medal winner she was sent to nationals,” said her mother Leslie Gosselin.

    “There are competitions in each trade area; Michelle was in the leadership competitions where she did a presentation and a demonstration at the same time,” she said.

    Michelle had also competed in the leadership competition in her junior year and won gold.
    “This year my presentation was on scented play dough” she said.

    “For the presentation, you start with an opening where you state what you are doing, why it benefits teachers and kids,” Gosselin explained.

    An active demonstration, Michelle showed judges how to make the play dough from start to finish.

    “The point is that they can walk away from my lesson and make it themselves,” Michelle said. “At the end, I went over again why [this process] is important for the teacher and the child.”

    Michelle said students were judged on presentation, appearance, set up and take down, and the interest level of their presentations.

    Skills USA is a serious competition: “The presentation had to be between 5-7 minutes, or you were docked points,” Michelle said. Her coach was Ann Marie Cataldo and Gosselin said she trained for months to perfect her presentation.

    “[Cataldo] spent a lot of time tutoring [Michelle], practicing the demonstrations and helping to prepare the speech that she had to memorize,” said Leslie. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime. She absolutely loved it.”

    When Michelle graduated she also received awards and honors, including the Memorial Award, the Early Childhood Education Spirit of Education award, as well as a scholarship to Monty Tech and she received Honor Roll all four terms.

    Now Michelle is returning to Monty Tech as a college student, and is taking her already long list of achievements with her, including her two gold medals in the field she has been studying  for four years.

    “I’m excited to go, but I’m also nervous about the whole college thing,” Michelle said. “I always liked working with kids, and I really liked the program at Monty Tech.”

    After college, Michelle plans to “teach first or second grade, I haven’t been out in the field that long.” Her achievements have certainly shown her dedication to her trade, as she begins the next chapter of her education.