(April 17, 2025)–2024-2025 will be remembered as a historic school year for the Harrison County Career & Technical Center (HCCTC). A record-setting 71 students at the center have qualified to represent the Harrison County School District and the state of Mississippi in upcoming national and international competitions. That news is creating a lot of excitement, especially among the students and teachers who are gearing up for the biggest competitions of their lives!
The HCCTC is comprised of students from all three high schools in the Harrison County School District: D’Iberville High, Harrison Central High, and West Harrison High. Since February, HCCTC students have captured 31 first-place awards in various state competitions. In fact, each student organization at the center - SKILLSUSA, DECA, TSA, Educator Prep, and HOSA - had at least one state champion who earned the honor of competing at the national or international level.
“The Career and Technical Center is very proud of each accomplishment this year by our teachers and students. Each award just shows how hard the teachers worked to prepare the students, and it shows how dedicated the students are at mastering the skills they are being taught. We have great teachers and students!” said HCCTC Director Preston Necaise.
On Feb. 23-25, Business, Marketing, and Finance DECA members traveled to Vicksburg to compete in the Mississippi DECA State Career Development Conference. The students did an outstanding job representing their schools and chapters by taking home 17 first-place awards. In addition to a 100-question test, the students competed in role-play scenarios, sales pitches, research and business plans, and interviews.
“I was scared! My heart was racing,” said Harrison Central High Junior James McQuillan.
A total of 37 DECA students placed first and qualified to compete in the International Competition on April 25-30 in Orlando. What makes the event even more significant is that this year, Harrison County School District will have the largest number of DECA students in Mississippi competing on an international stage.
“Everything I worked so hard for felt like I really achieved, and it has come to fruition with what I wanted to be. Internationals is going to be an amazing opportunity for me to connect with different people from across the nation,” said James.
“Oh, it was amazing! We really worked hard to get to first place, and we’re very excited for internationals!” said Harrison Central High Junior Novalie Vincent.
“What an amazing group of students to be able to take these papers and business plans and role plays, compete on the state level, and make it to the level of internationals is just amazing! We had the most winners at state, so I’m super proud of them!” said DECA Advisor Julie Williamson.
HCCTC SkillsUSA members also performed exceptionally well at the state competition in Jackson on April 1-3. The three-man welding fabrication team was challenged with welding a large fire pit and had only four hours to complete the task.
“We used every four hours of it. We ended up coming through like two minutes to the finish,” recalled West Harrison High Junior Gatlin Holland.
While the competition was fierce, the team persevered and brought home the coveted 1st place banner.
“Just heart racing trying to get done. It’s still trying to set in on me. I mean, it’s pretty cool!” said West Harrison High Senior Tucker Farve.
“We had a lot of practice going into it. It was special knowing we were the best team there,” said Gatlin.
Jazmine Barron also won first place in Related Technical Math. The welding team will advance to the National SkillsUSA Championship in Atlanta in June – the only SkillsUSA team from Mississippi to compete in the big event.
The following HCCTC students also earned well-deserved recognition for placing at state competitions. Congratulations to all!
TSA (Engineering) State Competition:
- 1st Place - Neisi Baricuatro: Structural Design & 2nd Place: Architectural Design
- 1st Place - Ariana Harrell: Senior Solar Sprint, Transportation Modeling & 3rd place: Children’s Stories
- 1st Place - John Boyd, Bryson Dambrino: Senior Solar Sprint & 2024-25 MS State President
- 1st Place - Cameron Jimerson: Extemporaneous Speech
- 1st Place - Christopher Rivera: Structural Design & 2nd Place: Architectural Design
- 1st Place - Carter Blenden: Senior Solar Sprint & 2nd Place: Tech Problem Solving
- 1st Place - Merritt Dixon: Senior Solar Sprint
- 2nd Place - Marrisa Orr, Daylen Fairley: Board Game Design
- 2nd Place - Dominick Clark: Board Game Design
- 2nd Place - Thaddeus Halsell: Tech Problem Solving & 2025-2026 Newly-Elected State Secretary
Future teachers in HCSD competed in the Educators Rising State Conference & Competition, which over 600 Mississippi members attended this year.
Educators Rising (Educator Prep) State Competition:
- 1st Place - Leah Dryden & Taylor Homan: Varsity Interactive Bulletin Board
- 1st Place - Trista Holland: Educators Rising Leadership Award
- 2nd Place - Evangeline Lopiccolo: JV Children’s Literature Pre-K
- 2nd Place - Abigail Ledbetter & Cami Naquin: JV Interactive Bulletin Board
- 3rd Place - Sophia Hart: Varsity Lesson Planning CTE
- 3rd Place - Raegan Roberts: Varsity Lesson Planning Humanities
- 3rd Place - Sania Jones: Varsity Lesson Planning STEM
- 4th Place - Destiny Lucio: Varsity Educators Rising Moment
- 5th Place - Daneira Pipkins: Varsity Exploring Support Services
- 6th Place - Cadee Strickland: Varsity Exploring Administration Careers
- 6th Place - Jada Brinson & Au’Ziiah Turner: Varsity Teacher Created Materials
- 7th Place - Amber Ellzey: Exploring Non-Core Subject Careers
- 7th Place - Lyndsee Leopard & Karen Martinez: Varsity Children’s Literature Pre-K
SkillsUSA (Welding & Carpentry) State Competition:
- 1st Place - Brady Hogue, Tucker Farve & Gatlin Holland: Welding Fabrication Team
- 1st Place - Jazmine Barron: Related Technical Math
- 3rd Place - Ryan Seymour: Welding
HOSA members also excelled at state events, with 10 students qualifying to compete at nationals.
HOSA (Health Science) State Competition:
- 1st Place - Amil Buckhanan & Haleigh Bradford: Health Career Board
- 1st Place - Andrayah Anderson & Riley Peleaz: CERT Skills
- 2nd Place - Jaseigh Page: Life Support Skills
- 3rd Place - Natalia Laneaux & Addison Lombardi: Community Awareness
- 5th Place - Parrish Laiche: World Health & Disparities
- Jada Roy, Evelyn Pol & Lawrence Woulard Jr. advanced to nationals in Health Issuers Exam
- 100% Award - Nurse Kaitlyn Derouen
DECA (Business, Marketing, & Finance) State Competition:
- 1st Place - Addison Mosley: Sports & Entertainment Marketing
- 1st Place - Isabella Payne: Travel & Tourism Team Event
- 1st Place - Ethan Blair: Business Growth Plan & Business Services Marketing & 1st place: Business Service Marketing
- 1st Place - Julia Meeks: Hotel & Lodging Marketing & 2nd place: Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling
- 1st Place - Mary Calin Rackley & Paige Groves: International Business Plan
- 1st Place - Angie Gonzalez: Franchise Business Plan
- 1st Place - Lily Behee, Jaylen Hudson & Nyla Breeland: Integrated Marketing Campaign-Event
- 1st Place - Jace Bennett: Principles of Finance
- 1st Place - Lindy Gollogly: Travel & Tourism Team Event & 4th place: Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling
- 1st Place - Ashlee Sardin, Jayleigh Martin & Marcus Conner: Financial Operations Research
- 1st Place - Justin Carantes, Destiny Lockridge & Isaiah Fairley: Sports & Entertainment Operations Research
- 1st Place - Lauhna Campbell, Yaniel Esquilin & Gabe Holliman: Hospitality & Tourism Operations Research
- 1st Place - Yasmin Jenkins & Novalie Vincent: Buying & Merchandising Operations Research & 2nd Place: Buying & Merchandising Team Event
- 1st Place - James McQuillan: Professional Selling & 2nd Place: Human Resource Management
- 1st Place - Vanessa Niolet, Jayla Parker & Maleigha Cuevas: Integrated Marketing Campaign-Service
- 1st Place - Hailey Gibson & Sebastian Carrasquillo: Innovation Business Plan & 4th Place: Marketing Management Team
- 1st Place - Alexander Sales Abac: Principles of Entrepreneurship
- 1st Place - Aiyana Montgomery: Principles of Business Management & Administration
- 2nd Place - Hannah Sykes & Erin Share: Business Law & Ethics Team & 4th Place: Innovation Business Plan
- 2nd Place - Jayleigh Martin: Food Marketing
- 2nd Place - Krystalie Rivera: Business Services Marketing
- 2nd Place - Kaitlin Galang: Integrated Marketing Campaign-Product
- 2nd Place - Kendra Rowe: Apparel & Accessories Marketing
- 3rd Place - Gabe Holliman: Personal Financial Literacy
- 3rd Place - Tristan McArn: Automotive Services Marketing
- 3rd Place - Nyla Breeland & Jaylen Hudson: Sports & Entertainment Marketing Team
- 3rd Place - Lily Behee & Angie Gonzalez: Entrepreneurship Team
- 3rd Place - Mary Calin Rackley: Apparel & Accessories
- 4th Place - Tanner Franklin: Principles of Finance
- 4th Place - Destiny Lockridge & Isaiah Fairley: Hospitality Service Team
- 4th Place - Carson Rogers: Principles of Marketing
- 4th Place - Lauhna Campbell: Quick Serve Restaurant Management
- 5th Place - Yaniel Esquilin: Restaurant Food Service Management
- 5th Place - Lasendra Jefferson: Start-up Business Plan
- 6th Place - Mia McCollum: Principles of Hospitality & Tourism
- 6th Place - Natasha Lopez: Retail Merchandising
Along with winning top state DECA awards, James McQuillan will serve on the MS DECA State Action Team as the 2025-26 Vice President of Marketing, and Novalie Vincent will serve as the 2025-26 District 5 Coordinator. They delivered speeches at the district and state levels and ran a campaign to network with students from around the state on their platform of creating a stronger MS DECA. Two other DECA students also received scholarships.
The Harrison County School District is extremely proud of all our CTE students for their remarkable successes! The mission of the HCCTC is to deliver high-level career training and employability skill opportunities while promoting the highest level of academic achievement for our students. Our CTE programs promote creativity, skill attainment, goal setting, personal growth, and leadership roles that ensure success in the world of work and in life. The students’ accomplishments reflect the high caliber of training and education these programs provide and highlight the effectiveness of CTE programs in preparing young people for real-world challenges.
“It has opened so many doors and provided me with so much. I’ve learned interpersonal skills and communication skills. It’s just been overall amazing!” said Novalie.
“I’m just excited to go to internationals with my friends and just get the opportunity, even if we don’t place, but hopefully we do, just going and experiencing it – a new experience!”
Additional settings for Safari Browser.
