Career Center TV Production Students Sweep State Awards, Win SkillsUSA Cup

Career Center Television Production students were awarded State SkillsUSA Championship medals at the 58th Annual State Leadership Conference and Skills Championships. The contests were held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center in Virginia Beach from April 21-22. The Career Center came in first place in all seven video and radio competitions that they entered.

Leading the way for the Career Center were Career Center student Natalier Walker (11th grade), and Arlington Tech students Sean Memon (11th grade), Alessia Crisafulli (11th grade), and Anna Lapidus (11th grade) who won first-place gold medals in the Video News Live contest. The team had two hours to write a three-minute news piece and then another twenty minutes in the studio to record a final take in one try. The four students qualify for the National SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta from June 19th-23rd. They will be a part of the Virginia team that is competing against the rest of the country. Gold Medal Broadcast News Live

Arlington Tech students Dino Taroc (11th grade) and Andres Jara Romero (11th grade) also won first-place gold medals in the Television (Video) Production Live contest. They had four hours to plan, record, and edit a three-minute piece on the prompt- “SkillsUSA: Our Time is Now.” The team also qualifies for the National SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta as well. Gold Medal Television (Video) Production Live

Arlington Tech students, Dylan Lawson (10th grade) and Javier Martinez (11th grade) won first-place gold medals in the Audio-Radio Production Live competition. They had four hours to plan, record, and edit a three-minute audio piece on the prompt- “Why is CTE Important in Education?” They also needed to include a 30-second commercial on “Gatorade”. This team qualifies for the National SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta from June 19th-23rd and will join the Virginia team that is competing against the rest of the country. Gold Medal Audio Radio Live

Arlington Tech student Isa Chavez (11th grade) and Career Center student Emily Snell (10th grade) won first-place gold medals in the Digital Cinema contest. They were tasked with creating a three to five minute short film. Isa and Emily produced a thriller about a young girl who becomes friends with an artificial life and how things get out of control. This team also qualifies for the National SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta from June 19th-23rd. Gold Medal Digital Cinema

Julia Snell (11th grade) and Arlington Tech student Hector Hernandez (11th grade) won the first-place gold medal in the Television-Pre Produced-Cuts Only contest with their video about test anxiety. Gold Medal Cuts Only Pre-produced

Career Center students Emily Snell (10th grade), Julia Snell (11th grade), Mia Cummings (10th grade), and Zak Naamane (10th grade) won the first-place gold medal in the Pre Produced-Special Effects contest with their anti-drug PSA called ‘Don’t Risk It’. Gold Medal SFX Pre-produced

Sean Memon (11th grade) and Anna Lapidus (11th grade) won the first-place gold medal in Radio Pre-Produced with their energetic piece about iCloud storage. Gold Medal Radio-Pre Produced

Also, Career Center student Sophia Cruz (11th grade) won the second place silver medal in the Cosmetology Fantasy Manikin contest going against 42 other contestants.

Finally, the Career Center was one of three schools to earn the prestigious SkillsUSA Cup. This trophy goes to the schools who won the most medals during the event. The TV Production program is led by teacher Tom O’Day. The Cosmetology program is run by teachers Rosenia Peake and Desiree Alexander. SkillsUSA is a national organization that focuses on leadership skills for high school students. Students are given the opportunity to compete in contests against their peers at the local, state, and national levels. All contests are run by and judged by industry, using industry standards for employment.

Below is the list of all the gold, silver and bronze medal winners for the Arlington Career Center. Congratulations to all the winning students.

*Signifies Arlington Tech student.

First Place Gold Medal Winners
Broadcast News Production
*Sean Memon (11th grade), *Alessia Crisafulli (11th grade), *Anna Lapidus (11th grade), Natalie Walker (11th grade) (This team advances to the national championships in Atlanta from June 19-23)Gold Medal Broadcast News Live

Television (Video) Production
*Dino Taroc (11th grade), *Andres Jara (11th grade) (This team advances to the national championships in Atlanta from June 19-23) Gold Medal Television (Video) Production Live

Audio-Radio 
*Dylan Lawson (10th grade), *Javier Martinez (11th grade) (This team advances to the national championships in Atlanta from June 19-23) Gold Medal Audio Radio Live

Digital Cinema
*Isa Chavez (11th grade), Emily Snell (10th grade) (This team advances to the national championships in Atlanta from June 19-23) Gold Medal Digital Cinema- “Artificial Friendship” 

TV Production-Pre Produced-Cuts Only
Julia Snell (11th grade), *Hector Hernandez (11th grade) Gold Medal Cuts Only Pre-produced – “Test Anxiety”

TV Production-Pre Produced-Special Effects
Emily Snell (10th grade), Julia Snell (11th grade), Mia Cummings (10th grade), Zakaria Naamane (10th grade) Gold Medal SFX Pre-produced – “Don’t Risk It”

Radio-Pre Produced
*Sean Memon (11th grade), *Anna Lapidus (11th grade) Gold Medal Radio-Pre Produced – “Storage of the Future”

Second Place Silver Medal Winners
Television (Video) Production
Julia Snell (11th grade), Zakaria Naamane (10th grade) Silver Medal Video-Television(Video)Production 

Audio-Radio
*Ava Belcastro (10th grade), *Jameson Berry (10th grade) Silver Medal Audio-Radio

TV Production-Pre Produced-Cuts Only
Natalie Walker (11th grade),*Alessia Crisafulli (11th grade),*Anna Lapidus (11th grade) Silver Medal Cuts Only- “Connecting with Oreos”

TV Production-Pre Produced-Special Effects
*Sean Memon (11th grade), *Bernadino Taroc (11th grade), Jon Hecker (12th grade) Silver Medal SFX-Pre Produced – “Delicious and Refreshing”

Radio-Pre Produced
*Hector Hernandez (11th grade), Zakaria Naamane (10th grade) Silver Medal Radio-Pre Produced – “Nike SB”

Fantasy Manikin Live
Sofia Cruz (11th grade)

Third Place Bronze Medal Winners
Audio-Radio 
*Rahiel Beyene (11th grade), *Marlene Reyes (10th grade) Bronze Medal Audio-Radio

Digital Cinema
*Lucas Reynolds (11th grade), *Caroline Schwebach (10th grade) Bronze Medal Digital Cinema- “Missing”

Radio-Pre Produced
Julia Snell (11th grade)Bronze Medal Radio-Pre Produced – “Don’t Risk It”