Melanie Josselyn, a 2011 graduate of Joseph P. Keefe Technical School in Framingham won a Silver Medal for Nurse Assisting at the 47th annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, held in Kansas City, MO in June.

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing high school and college students for careers in technical, trade, and skilled service occupations through local, state, and national programs and competitions.

Superintendent-Director James Lynch said Josselyn is the first Keefe Tech student to place in the top three in a category and win a medal at the National SkillsUSA Conference.

“Melanie did a fantastic job of representing our school on a national level and we are extremely proud of her achievement,” said Lynch in a press release. “She faced off against the best Health Careers students from all across the country and rose to the top,” he added.

Josselyn, a recent graduate of the school’s Health Careers Program, also excelled at the local and state level SkillsUSA competitions during her senior year.

In March, the Natick resdient won a Silver Medal at the District SkillsUSA Competition, which was hosted at Keefe Tech. She then went on to win a Gold Medal at the State SkillsUSA Competition in late April, qualifying her to move on to the national level.

More than 5,600 outstanding career and technical education students —all state contest winners— competed hands-on in 94 different trade, technical and leadership fields during the National SkillsUSA Championships. Contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry.

“I competed in the Nurse Assisting category and had to take a 100-question written exam and a practical skills application exam, which tested areas such as hand washing, glove application, denture care, positioning patients, CPR, range of motion, and vital signs,” Josselyn explained.

Accompanied by Keefe Tech lead health careers teacher Sue Lynch, Josselyn didn’t find out she was a Silver Medal winner until the awards ceremony. “I was so excited, and Ms. Lynch jumped up and hugged me,” she said.

Josselyn will attend UMass Amherst in the fall, where she will pursue a degree in Psychology in Neuroscience. With acceptance letters to schools such as Ithaca College, The University of Maine, The University of Connecticut, The University of New Hampshire, The University of Vermont, The University of Rhode Island, and Drew University, she chose UMass Amherst because of their association with the acclaimed UMass Medical School.

“My goal is to become a doctor specializing in Neuroscience,” she explained. “When I was a freshman at Keefe, my mother suffered brain injury, so my interest began there.” As a student in the Health Careers Program, Josselyn was able to learn about all aspects of the medical field, but truly knew it was her calling during her first hands-on clinical outing.

“There’s a different feeling that comes along with helping people,” she said in a press release. “I remember going out with my class to work with patients, and it made me realize how much we are able to make a difference and how much people appreciate what we do. It’s very powerful.”

She also attributes much of her interest to her teacher and mentor, Lynch. “Her enthusiasm is totally imparted upon all of her students,” Josselyn said.

In addition to her National SkillsUSA Silver Medal, Josselyn was honored with the 2011 Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators Vocational Excellence Award and the 2011 Massachusetts Vocational Association Outstanding Vocational Technical Student Award, and was the winner of The Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation’s fifth annual $5,000 A. James Lavoie Essay Contest Scholarship.