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Two Students Place at SkillsUSA National Competition

Riverside RCCD

Riverside, CARiverside City College had two students place at the National SkillsUSA Conference in Louisville, KY last week.

Kristian LoVerso, a graduate of Riverside Christian High School, took home the gold medal in graphic communications, while Emily Riddell, a graduate of River Springs Charter School in Riverside, took third in advertising design. Each of the students’ respective competitions lasted over three days of the conference, which ran from June 20-26.

For LoVerso that meant three days of practice job interviews, industry training, competency tests and printing press operations. The contest was administered by the Print Industries of America with support from industry manufacturers Xerox and Heidelberg. She also had to design and preflight a multipage document using Adobe software, manage digital printing operations with Xerox; and print, fold and fabricate packaging products with Heidelberg presses.

“Kristina said that ever since she saw the SkillsUSA award banners on display in the Printing and Graphics Center she envisioned her name one day hanging on the wall,” Patrick Scullin, assistant professor, Applied Digital Media, said.

Like LoVerso, Riddell’s experience lasted three nerve-racking days with practice job interviews, marketing and design training, competency tests and graphic design projects. Her contest was administered by Lee Troxell with Troxell Media. Competitors were responsible for designing marketing campaign materials for fictitious businesses which included logo design, page layout, direct mail and poster design. They were judged on their accuracy, attention to detail and effective implementation of the marketing brief, Scullin said.

The College also saw Martin Alvarez, a graduate of San Gorgonio High School, compete at the national level in the Auto Service Technology category. Alvarez participated in multiple preparation and practice days at Louisville auto service centers, including a grueling eight-hour contest where students had 22 minutes at each test station to diagnose and repair a variety of makes and models of automobiles. Students were required to know vehicle systems inside and out, Scullin said.

Based on his performance at the competition, Alvarez was offered a scholarship to attend a BMW service technician training program with the guarantee of a job following the program’s completion.

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