SkillsUSA
After competing against other schools in Region 3 before the school closure, TCHS SkillsUSA was one of the six schools in California awarded with a Gold Level Chapter of Excellence on April 15.
“When I found out that TCHS was awarded Gold Level I was really happy and honestly a little surprised,” vice president junior Kristen Mok said. “I knew we were qualified but we’re still a relatively new chapter since this is only our third year. I think that we will continue to achieve more and more each year, and we plan on progressing ourselves each year, whether it’ll be through competitions or community outreach.”
SkillsUSA is a Career Technical Student Organization with the purpose to help train, promote and educate students in different career pathways. Nurse assisting, T-shirt design and cabinet making are just some of the categories that students compete in.
“Since it was my first year in SkillsUSA, I didn’t know much about the award but when I heard about it, I thought it was a great achievement,” sophomore Abeni Liu said. “I was kind of disappointed when state championships were canceled because I wanted to compete with more teams and the competition was fun. However, I can try again next year so I don’t mind too much.”
55 out of the 82 TCHS regional competitors would have advanced to state championships if competitions were not canceled due to the pandemic.
“I was amazed after knowing the TCHS chapter was awarded with Gold Level,” Health Sector adviser Anthony Garcia said. “Students have taken this Career Technical Student Organization to an all new level this year.”
Templar
Templar placed sixth in the nation for COVID-19 coverage in a yearbook on April 17 by submitting a spread to the NSPA Best of Show competition for high school journalists.
“When I was assigned to do the COVID-19 spread, I thought that was very honoring in itself,” future Assistant Design Editor junior Caren Chua said. “I had no idea that it would be submitted to be judged for an award. When I heard we won sixth in the nation, I felt very proud and stunned just by seeing ‘Templar’ on the livestream.”
For the COVID-19 spread, a team of Templar members gathered stories from students about their experiences with the school closure and COVID-19. They worked to assemble the final spread that was eventually submitted to the NSPA Best of Show competition.
“I was in shock after finding out we placed sixth because I had known this competition was occurring, but with my other classes and deadlines, I wasn’t able to pay it much mind,” future Copy Editor sophomore Ashley Peng said. “I felt incredibly proud of our organization since we were going against hundreds of other high schools in the country.”
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the publisher pushed the due date for the entire yearbook forward, giving the staff less time to work on the spread. However, they were able to complete it on time.
“I am very proud of my yearbook journalists for earning sixth place in the NSPA for their COVID-19 coverage,” adviser Lynn Alvarez said. “When I proofread this specific content before printing, I remember how great it was to see so many angles the yearbook students took that let me learn how unique and how resilient TC students are.”