Senior Katrina Hung of Marlboro never would have thought that the club she joined as a freshman would lead her to be a national competitor, and later, a national finalist. Nevertheless, a national silver medalist is what Hung became.
Hung has been a member of SkillsUSA since starting at Communications High School (CHS). SkillsUSA is a national, nonprofit career and technical education (CTE) organization that empowers students to become skilled professionals, workforce-ready leaders, and responsible community members. In this environment, Hung has highly advocated for SkillsUSA as a crucial part of CHS culture.
“It’s a really fulfilling experience,” Hung said. “You get to learn a lot of things and meet a lot of new people.”
Hung competed in the T-shirt design competition, making it past the state level and finishing second place at nationals.
“If you were just doing states, it’s a little bit more contained,” Hung said. “I got to go to nationals, and I got to go with my friends, which was really fun.”
There were over 19,000 attendees, which was a record-breaking number for the event. Hung found herself beginning to feel anxious about competing with so many others going against her.
“It was really nerve-racking when we competed,” Hung said. “We competed in this giant room with a lot of other competitors.”
The national competition included people from all over America. SkillsUSA facilitates 440,000 middle school, high school, and college students.
“I had to compete with people from all of the other 50 states, also including the territories,” Hung said. “It was really intimidating because when you present, you have to do it in front of everyone.”
Hung’s T-shirt design followed the theme of “Ignite Your Potential,” reflecting SkillsUSA’s mission and values.
“You have to spin your design into a narrative and make it seem meaningful,” Hung said. “I think that’s what got me to win.”
Hung discussed the importance of public speaking as part of the competition, regarding it as a very crucial part of the design contest.
“It’s more of a presentation than what’s actually on the shirt,” she said. “If you just look at a drawing, you’re like, oh, this is pretty, but what’s the significance?”
Hung first started her love of design in middle school, later crediting CHS as helping to foster her passion in CTE teacher Amanda Fitzpatrick’s design class her freshman year.
“I love art; I came to Communications because I wanted to do design,” Hung said.
She credits CHS with pushing her to discover herself as an artist.
“It [CHS] has really helped me a lot,” Hung said. “I think I have also grown as a person, and my aesthetic sense has developed.”
Hung describes the process as tiring but rewarding, feeling as though it’s all worth it in the end.
“It just comes out as a whole and is really nice, so it makes me feel satisfied,” Hung said. “The process is obviously very frustrating at times because you have to do trial and error, so you feel a lot of satisfaction when it comes out as a final product, and it looks really nice.”
