Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School Students Win National Medals

Photo: (l-r) The National Gold Medal winning SkillsUSA Chapter Business Procedure team from SCVTHS: Samanvi Mokkarala (Bridgewater), Trisha Iyer (Somerville), Gagan Voonna (Somerset), Manu Datta (Hillsborough), Guru Puduru (Bridgewater), Vaibhav Vujjini (Hillsborough).

BRIDGEWATER – Students from Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School (SCVTHS) attended the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference held June 23-27 in Atlanta, Georgia. SkillsUSA is a not-for-profit association that serves more than 300,000 middle school, high school, college and post-secondary students — and their instructors — in trade, technical, and skilled service instructional programs. The organization, supported by more than 850 companies, trade associations and labor unions, emphasizes respect for the dignity of work, professional ethics, workmanship, scholarship, and safety.

Over 6,800 students from around the country competed in Championship-level events that covered skilled and technical sciences, leadership development, and occupation related skills.

Photo: SCVTHS student Harley Long of Bridgewater (3rd from left) is the 2025 National Gold Medalist in the Criminal Justice competition held as part of the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.

New Jersey teams had one of their best showings ever, earning a total of 41 medals. Of those, SCVTHS students earned a total of 19 medals, including 18 gold medals and one bronze medal. In addition, ten students were top ten finishers in their events, and another twelve SCVTHS students were named recipients of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, which recognizes outstanding community service over the preceding year. The SCVTHS SkillsUSA Chapter also received a gold Chapter of Distinction Award.

The SCVTHS students who received medals and awards are:

GOLD

o Chapter Business Procedure: Manu Datta (Hillsborough), Trisha Iyer (Somerville), Samanvi Mokkarala (Bridgewater), Guru Puduru (Bridgewater), Gagan Voonna (Somerset), Vaibhav Vujjini (Hillsborough)

o Criminal Justice: Harley Long (Bridgewater)

o Health Knowledge Bowl: Max Chen (Hillsborough), Siyaa Choudhary (Somerset), Vihaan Iyer (Hillsborough), Veydaant Ravi (Hillsborough)

o Quiz Bowl: Lily Boguslavsky (Bridgewater), Akshaj Kalepalli (Bridgewater), Pari Malla (Branchburg), Aarav Patel (Hillsborough), Aarnav Shah (Bridgewater), Krish Vyas (Hillsborough), Daniel Yuh (Somerset)

BRONZE

o Medical Math: Margaret Kim (Somerset)

TOP TEN FINISHERS

o American Spirit (4th Place): Shreya Patro (Branchburg), Kushi Rao (Hillsborough), Saanvi Trivedi (Hillsborough)

o Career Pathways – Health Science (4th Place): Malavika Malanthara (Franklin Park), Pranavi Prayaga (Somerset), Shagun Srivastava (Bridgewater)

o Plumbing (5th Place): Christian Hudak (Bridgewater)

o Medical Terminology (6th Place): Saesha Purakayastha (Belle Mead)

o Health Occupations Professional Portfolio (8th Place): Alejandro Karako (Bridgewater)

o Customer Service (9th Place): Joann Thomas (Bridgewater)

President’s Volunteer Service Award Winners

GOLD

o Nicholas Dysko (Bridgewater)

o Jessy Dong (North Plainfield)

o Noor Fatima (Hillsborough)

o Charlotte McLaughlin (Warren)

o Aarika Patel (Skillman)

o Tanvi Patel (Warren)

o Pranavi Prayaga (Somerset)

o Vaanya Salwan (Bridgewater)

o Jainam Shah (Bridgewater)

SILVER

o Lily Boguslavsky (Bridgewater)

o Margaret Kim (Somerset)

BRONZE

o Saanvi Trivedi (Hillsborough)

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