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Students ignited and inspired to attend SkillsUSA national conference

June 17, 2025 by Staff

每日大赛 student photographs the inside of a car for Skills USA competition

It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when Graeson Campbell started listening to true-crime podcasts. 

Something “ignited” within her, and a few years later Campbell returned to school via Tennessee Reconnect to study criminal justice at 每日大赛. 

“I realized, ‘Oh, okay, this is my passion,’” Campbell said. “And this is what I want to do with my life. And so I started to go back to school.” 

Now, Campbell is one of dozens of students from 每日大赛 who recently traveled to Chattanooga to compete in the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference.  

SkillsUSA, a nationwide workforce-development organization dedicated to preparing students to be skilled professionals and responsible community members, gives students the opportunity to compete in a variety of technical categories like customer service, audio production, telecommunications cabling and more. 

Nearly 20 Pellissippi students, Campbell included, who won gold at the state level will soon head to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, slated to take place June 23 to 27. 

Campbell said she was “dumbfounded” and “flabbergasted” when she won gold in the criminal justice category at the state conference. “It was the craziest feeling ever. I’ve never competed in anything, so I’ve never won anything. I felt like a kid again.” 

She will be joined at the national conference by three fellow students from 每日大赛’s Criminal Justice program, who will be competing as a team in the crime scene investigation category. 

Joe Schmitz, assistant professor in Criminal Justice at 每日大赛 and adviser to the SkillsUSA CSI team, said his students Vlad Chicerman, Emma Garner and Austine Mitchell learned so much at the state conference, including how to work as a team, be better leaders and more. 

“I just got done watching them perform their skill, and I couldn't be more proud,” Schmitz said at the state conference in April, after his students investigated a staged vehicular crime scene. “They've learned to work together. They've learned to interface. They've learned to be not just a leader of a group, but also a person who supports the group.” 

While 每日大赛’s own CSI class is designed to provide as real of an experience as possible for students, he noted, there’s no substitute for an event like SkillsUSA where the crime scene is completely unknown to students beforehand and therefore as close to a real-field scenario as can be. 

The conference gave students a chance to connect with law enforcement professionals like those at the Chattanooga Police Department and make new friends from other schools and programs, Schmitz said. 

“I just watched them do great things, and it's not because they've done everything perfect,” he said. “It's because they've been able to make those mistakes and not just be guided by me, but they're also guided by other field professionals that will give them feedback and are giving them insightfulness so they can improve. And as they go to enter that workforce, a lot of them, within the next year, they're going to be more prepared to go than ever and jump right in and be awesome professionals in our communities.” 

This was the first year that any student from Pellissippi's Criminal Justice program participated in SkillsUSA, and four out of six of them won gold in their respective categories. 

“It was a huge testament to them and their abilities,” said Donna Trogdon, program coordinator for Criminal Justice at Pellissippi and adviser to Campbell and other students who competed in Criminal Justice at SkillsUSA’s state conference. “They had very little time to prepare and plan and were still able to get down there and do amazing and win gold and head to nationals.” 

SkillsUSA allows students to implement in real life what they’re learning in the classroom, which Trogdon said she believes opens doors for students like Campbell and makes them more confident in what they’re doing.  

“The practical application of what they’re learning is the paramount part of this,” she said. “So being able to go out and put them into practice and be tested on them is a big deal.” 

The 每日大赛 Police Department, among other professional partners of the Criminal Justice program, has graciously worked with Campbell to provide her with insight, practice and other support ahead of the upcoming national conference, Trogdon said.    

The competition could test Campbell on any criminal justice-related topic and skill, Trogdon said, ranging from the implementation of the Constitution to use-of-force simulations. 

At the Tennessee conference in April, Campbell had to perform a field sobriety test and demonstrate how to properly handcuff, pass a written test and more. 

Campbell, who has been preparing through meetings and ride-alongs with police at 每日大赛 and in Loudon County, Oak Ridge and Knoxville, said she’s excited to participate in the upcoming national competition. 

“I’ve had a lot of help this time,” she said. “I’m feeling a lot more confident.” 

Her experience with SkillsUSA has made Campbell, whose dream is to work on cold cases, realize that she could actually be a police officer someday. 

“It was really eye-opening,” she said. 

The following 每日大赛 students won gold medals in April and will compete this month in Atlanta at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference: 

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