Career Center/Arlington Tech TV Production Students Win State Awards, and SkillsUSA Cup

Arlington Tech students at the Arlington Career Center were awarded SkillsUSA Virginia Championship medals at the 60th Annual State Leadership Conference and Skills Championships. These contests were held at the Berglund Center in Roanoke from April 04-06. The Career Center came in first place in six video and radio competitions and second place in seven contests.

Leading the way for the Career Center was Arlington Tech student Caroline Schwebach (12th grade), along with Career Center students Tony Madigan (11th grade), Ethan Eccker (10th grade), and Kiara Epps (12th grade) who won first-place gold medals in the Video News Production contest. The team had two hours to write a three-minute news piece, and then another 20 minutes in the studio to record a final take in one attempt. These four students qualify for the National SkillsUSA Championships being held in Atlanta from June 23-27. They will represent Virginia while competing against the rest of the country.

Arlington Tech student Lauren Sproles (11th grade) once again won a first-place gold medal in the Video Production Live contest with Career Center student Dylan Heinrich (11th grade). Lauren won this contest last year at Virginia Beach. They had four hours to plan, record, and edit a three-minute piece on the prompt, “Ignite your Potential”. This team also qualifies for the National SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta as well.

Career Center students Caroline Schwebach, Dylan Heinrich, and Scarlett Stevens (11th grade) won the first-place gold medal in the Video Production-Special Effects contest with their Nike commercial, “Confidence Fuels Winners”.
Career Center students Kiara Epps, and Alejandro Ortega (12th grade) won the first-place gold medal in the Video Production-Cuts Only contest with their PSA on voting, “Election Day in Partyville”. This video was creatively portrayed through the usage of miniature Lego figures.

Career Center student Dylan Heinrich also won the first-place gold medal in the Radio Communications contest with his humorous piece on Ben & Jerry’s.
Career Center students Dania Fadhil (12th grade) and Scarlett Stevens won the inaugural Digital Cinema Highlight contest, where the students were given 24 hours to make a music video highlighting different aspects of SkillsUSA to a song of their choice. Their winning video was played for hundreds of SkillsUSA participants during the awards ceremony at the end of the competition.

In addition, Career Center Barbering student Andy Cristobal (10th grade) won the second place silver medal in the competitive Barbering contest. This is the second year in a row that the Barbering program has earned a medal in this Virginia SkillsUSA contest.

Finally, the Career Center won the prestigious SkillsUSA Cup for the third year in a row. 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/Barbering programs are 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.