June 25, 2018
EDCAL 5
Students win medals at SkillsUSA state competition
Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE)
students won five gold medals, five silver medals, and three
bronze medals during the SkillsUSA California 51st Annual
State Leadership and Skill Conference. SVCTE sent 38
students to the state competition.
“I was the only girl competing against eight guys,” said
Areli Zatarain, an SVCTE student from James Lick High
School who competed in Collision Repair Technology. “Be-
fore I joined this class, I knew nothing about cars.” Areli was
a gold medalist in both the SkillsUSA Regional Leadership
and Skills Competition and recent State Leadership and
Skill Conference.
Areli said the state competition was more intense than
regionals, with timed skills tests in metal straightening and
grinding. She is looking forward to seeing the competition at
nationals, adding, “first there were five competitors at region-
als, then nine of us at state. Now it will be one person from
each state, so it will be me and all these people that are super
good. Yeah, I got this.”
“This is one of the best group of students we took to the
state competition, they really showed their professionalism,”
said Gina Fleming, an SVCTE instructor and SkillsUSA
Advisor. “We hold students to a very high standard. We put a
lot of time and effort into the students and the students give
it back since it is the career they have chosen.”
Gold medals went to: Jenjira Charoenratcharoon: Dental
Assisting, Prospect High School (Campbell Union HSD);
Brian Hoffman: Diesel Equipment Technology, Branham
High School (Campbell Union HSD); Nathan Munoz:
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration,
Santa Teresa High School (East Side Union HSD); Thao
Nguyen: Dental Assisting, Adult Student; Areli Zatarain:
Collision Repair Technology, James Lick High School (East Left to right: Gold medalists Brian Hoffman, Areli Zatarain, Jenjira
Side Union HSD).
Charoenratcharoon, Thao Nguyen, and Nathan Munoz
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