So you think you have skills?

During the weekend of Apr. 9-12, Aron Ramirez, 12, went to Town and Country, a hotel located in San Diego, to participate in the Skills USA competition and advances to the nationals in Lowville, Kentucky. “It made me feel like a proud papa when all the teams medalled, because I saw that every individuals effort was paid off.”

Natalie Gomez, Arts & Entertainment Section Editor/ Staff Writer
May 13, 2015

Over spring break, Downey High’s Quiz Bowl team competed at SkillsUSA, in San Diego, California, where they swept the competition winning gold, silver, and bronze medals and qualified for the national competition set to take place in June.

Coming out of a tough loss at the state conference last year, the Quiz Bowl team rigorously prepared for SkillsUSA with the help of team captain Aron Ramirez, 12, and adviser Mr. Armendariz.

“I had that chip on my shoulder coming into this season,” Ramirez said, “so going into this season I set out to train the teams as well as I possibly could because I wanted all of the teams to succeed pretty well.”

Ramirez explained how once he found out that three of his teams qualified for the state competition, he wanted to make up for last year.

“I wanted to sweep the state which is something that has never been done before in Quiz Bowl history for SkillsUSA California,” Ramirez stated.

The Quiz Bowl team members prepared for the state conference by working diligently alongside Ramirez. They had to look over study guides, keep up with current events, and attend lectures on the SkillsUSA handbook to ensure that they were ready for the real deal and so the members would not doubt themselves while competing.

As a member of the gold-winning team with Ramirez, senior Alex Landin knew how big of a deal going to SkillsUSA was for the team.

“When my team won gold, I was extremely happy,” Landin said. “Aron was so proud that he cried tears of joy because this had been his goal since last year after we missed nationals.”

Senior Stephanie Loza is another current member of the Quiz Bowl team and was a part of the team who won the bronze medal at SkillsUSA.

“We made sure that this time that we competed everything was correct, including our attire and our resumés,” Loza said. “We studied so much and I think what really gave us an advantage was that we had gone over the entire SkillsUSA handbook.”

Now that the gold medal winning Quiz Bowl team has qualified for the national competition, that is set to take place in Kentucky, the team members are all preparing together even though they’re not all attending the competition. The team is taking this time to not only prepare for nationals but prepare their other teams for next year’s SkillsUSA competition.

Other Downey High students also competed at SkillsUSA where, all together, they won sixteen gold medals, thirteen silver medals, eighteen bronze medals, and swept in four different categories including Esthetics, Principles of Engineering, Technology and Design, and Quiz Bowl.

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About the Contributors

Natalie Gomez, Arts & Entertainment Section Editor/ Staff Writer

Senior Natalie Gomez joined The Downey Legend as a writer this fall. She first became interested in journalism after her experience with yearbook camp the summer before her senior year. She is excited to start the year and further advance her writing skills by taking on challenging stories. “I hope Newspaper helps me gain confidence with my writing and helps me stay on top of current events,” Gomez said. Gomez is optimistic in making The Downey Legend a recognized news outlet to students, faculty and the community by writing interesting stories.

In her spare time Gomez enjoys catching up on the latest news, driving around town and staying home watching her favorite shows on Netflix. Her love for baseball developed during her time playing softball in previous years and her all time favorite team is the Los Angeles Dodgers. After graduating from Downey High School, Gomez plans on completing a degree in psychology and continuing her education by applying to medical or law school.

Karen Ariciaga, Co-Photo Editor

Senior Karen Ariciaga is starting her second year in Newspaper, and she enjoyed her position very much. She entered Newspaper with a position, as photographer last year, was her first year actually knowing how to work the cameras and take pictures on a professional camera. As a photographer, she has a job of taking pictures of sports events, rallies, and school events. “I really liked taking pictures for events, it was a way for me to see what was going around me,” Agriciaga said. “Being a photographer seems like a fun job, but there is also work that comes with it, there’s a balance.” stated Agriciaga stated. Her goals for newspaper are to enjoy every minute of it.

Photography is one of her many interests, she also enjoys re-watching old TV series such as Gossip Girl in her spare time. “Blair is my favorite,” Ariciaga stated. Other than Gossip Girl, she loves to sleep and eat Sushi, “I can eat sushi it all the time,” said Ariciaga. As a senior, one of her plans for this year is to go to all the dances. Ariciaga wants to be a lawyer when she is older. “I love the feeling of winning an argument,” she said. She plans to attend Loyola Marymount University after high school and wants be signed to a firm after college in hopes of fulfilling her goals. “ I want to get higher scores on my SATs’, pass with straight As, and join more school activities,” Ariciaga said, Her back up plan is to go to San Francisco State and fall back on business, so she is applying for scholarships and other colleges just in case. She is very focused on her career; Karen Ariciaga is very dedicated to get what she wants in life. She is taking steps to get to where she wants and going through it with a great attitude toward her up and coming year.