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Career Development School Students Are State-Bound Again

Posted on: Monday, 13 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Tracy Simmons, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Mar. 11--Twenty-five Career Development School students did so well in district competition that they'll be competing in the SkillsUSA state competition in April.

The Dare Devil Team -- made up of Richard Longoria, Joe Garcia and Chris Grant -- won the blue ribbon exemplary award at the district competition March 3 and 4, said John Mixon, a computer maintenance instructor.

The team built a neon computer with "all the bells and whistles," which they will take to the state competition in Fort Worth.

"It's pretty advanced," Mixon said. "They did pretty good."

He said the competition was tougher this year than in the past and he wasn't sure how well the team would do.

"I can't say they got lucky because luck certainly doesn't play a part in it," he said.

The students got an overall score of 93 in competition with about 30 other schools, he said.

Garcia, a senior, said it was his first time competing in a SkillsUSA competition and said it was a lot of work.

"We had to set the computer up and show it off to pretty much everybody," he said.

The team was judged on how well they documented building the computer, the neatness of it and the modifications.

"I'm happy," Garcia said, "that's the best way I can describe it."

This was the second consecutive year that CDS students advanced to the state competition in the modified computer competition. Last year the team won top honors at state.

In the computer maintenance technology category Michael Kaiser won first place and Ben Duran placed second. Both students will compete in the state competition.

CDS student Steven Williams will be advancing to state in the Cisco Networking category. He won second place.

Instructor Amy Alexander said this was the first time CDS competed in the category.

"So that was really good," Alexander said.

She said Williams had to participate in a mock interview, a 30-question exam and had to work on routing configurations.

In the residential writing category, student Tim Treaster won second place.

Seven cosmetology students won in the opening and closing ceremonies category. Valerie Davis, Melissa Tschoepe, Brittany Herron, Alyssa Porras, Christin Marin Tabitha Castro and Mayra Hernandez will be competing in the state competition.

Castor, Porras and Davis will also contend in the Cosmetology Quiz Bowl. Lisa Russell, Kristye Brown and Virginia Rodriguez advanced in the cosmetology projects category.

Students Jacob Alvarez and Robert Soliz were the first place team in the felony traffic stop competition and will also be advancing.

Kati Riley, Josh Garrett and Tyler Belcik won first place in crime scene investigations and also qualified for state.

Other students who placed in the district competition were AJ Root for auto collision technologies, Nathan Jackson for extemporaneous speaking and Mayra Hernandez for nail art.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Victoria Advocate, Texas

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Source: Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas

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