On March 3, 13 health science students traveled to Corpus Christi to compete in the state SkillsUSA competition. 

“I was very excited when I found out that I advanced to state because it meant that I would get to go to Corpus Christi with all my friends and make all my hard work pay off,” junior Olivia Blundell said. “I’m really proud of my team for advancing in the district in both community service and the health knowledge bowl. It was such a good opportunity for us to gain more knowledge and bond as a team.”

The team began preparing for district in February, and the remaining members continued on studying, researching, and practicing for their final competition. 

“I was very excited to compete again in Corpus with my team,” senior Karlee Menges said. “I chose to do this over Spring Show, so I used the free time I had during drill team practice to study almost every school day. I also studied during my freetime at the competition, the nights when I was staying there, and of course right before any of the competitions.”

The SkillsUSA team members had lots of time on the three day trip to have fun in and out of their competitions.

“The best part about this trip was just in general getting the chance to go to state as a freshman,” freshman Lincoln Rounsavall said. “I Also got the chance to meet a whole bunch of people from around the state. My favorite memory is when they called up the health knowledge bowl team and our school all cheered for them.”

Seniors Karlee Menges, Madison Donovan, and Shanna Casayuran, and juniors Olivia Blundell, and Kristen Kennel placed in their events. 

“I am very proud of all the students for how hard they worked to prepare,” SkillsUSA advisor Cheyenne Kirkpatrick said. “They spent a lot of time studying and preparing presentations outside of regular school hours. Although I would love for all of them to be on the top of the podium, I am proud of them for qualifying for state and competing! The first year we competed at SkillsUSA 5 years ago we didn’t come home with any state medals. To bring home 9 medals this year is awesome!”

Karlee Menges will be advancing to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia this summer for her first place medal in Medical Terminology. 

“Earning first place and finding out I’m going to nationals was of course a surreal feeling,” Menges said. “However, I have mixed feelings about it. I’m grateful and so excited to go, I just wish my friends would be there right by my side. Overall I’m happy with how things went.”