Norwich Technical High School Class of 2016 valedictorian Daria Stifel tried to shake off her disappointment at finishing 10th in the recent national Skills USA competition in her electrical division, telling herself that finishing 10th in the country was “no small feat.”

But when the individual scores were published from the June 20-24 competition in Louisville, Ky., Stifel, 18, of Lebanon logged on and scrutinized her scores in the dozen competition categories.

One jumped out — a minimum 8 of 80 possible points for electrical device location placement during the wiring test.

Stifel wrote a polite email to the Skills USA staff expressing her disappointment in that score and asking for an explanation to improve her skills as she enters the aeronautical engineering program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., this summer.

“The section I got an 8,” she said. “I would have had to put every device in the wrong place. I know I didn't do that.”

Instead of an explanation, on July 11, Stifel received a strong apology and her corrected score of 80 — the top score — for that category.

The correction vaulted Stifel to the gold medal for the overall electrical competition.

The prize includes what Connecticut Skills USA Executive Director Heidi Griffen said is enough tools to fill a pickup truck.

Norwich Tech also will receive a gold medal as the school of a national champion. It's the school's second in recent years.

“I was originally shocked she didn’t place higher than 10th,” Stifel's teacher, Jamie Lamitie said. “And then when we got the scorecard, I thought it wasn’t right. I thought she would be in the top three.”

The tools are valued at about $3,500 to $4,000, including tools from top manufacturers Channel Lock, De Walt, IRWIN, Klein, Lenox and Stanley Black & Decker, along with work clothes from Carhartt, according to David J. Worden, program director for Skills USA.

The national organization partners with tech schools across the country to promote technical skills for the American workforce.

Stifel was both relieved and thrilled.

She did, however, remain a bit disappointed she didn't get to stand on the stage to receive the gold medal with her fellow student winners.

Receiving the tools might take a little while, the Skills USA officials told her, because the prizes already were delivered to the original winner.

Those won't be rescinded, they told her, but she will receive a second set.

Stifel, the youngest daughter of Betsy and David Stifel, won't be at her family's Lebanon home when the tools arrive. She left last weekend to begin an intensive summer calculus class at Rensselaer.

When that concludes, she will return home to take a summer online course before starting regular classes in fall.

“I've always loved math and science and figuring out how things work,” Stifel said of her decision to major in aeronautical engineering. “Space and planets always interested me. Gaining knowledge. If I don't like it, I've got other options.”

Stifel received a $100,000 scholarship — $25,000 per year for four years — at Rensselaer.

Her mother, Betsy Stifel, said she told her daughter that the scholarship didn't matter, that she should choose a school that felt right for her.

She considered several engineering schools including the University of Connecticut. Daria's older sister, Alena Stifel, is a senior actuary student at UConn.

There's a tinge of sibling competition when it comes to academics, their mother said. Three years ago, Alena ranked 10th in her class at Lyman Memorial High School in Lebanon.

“Daria said to me, 'I’m going to finish first in my class,'” Betsy Stifel said.

c.bessette@theday.com