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    Eight students headed to national SkillsUSA competition

    Lamar State College Port Arthur will have eight students representing the Graphic Design and the Software Developer/Game Design programs at the upcoming national SkillsUSA national competition in Atlanta. Pictured are, back from left, Francisco Barrera-Cribas of Port Arthur, Cory Turner of Beaumont, Hector Flores of Port Arthur, and Brian Magana of Port Arthur; and front from left, Alejandro Padron of Beaumont, Alaina Harbert of Nederland, and Thien Pham of Port Arthur. Not pictured is Malcom Watkins of Port Arthur.
    Lamar State College Port Arthur will have eight students representing the Graphic Design and the Software Developer/Game Design programs at the upcoming national SkillsUSA national competition in Atlanta. Pictured are, back from left, Francisco Barrera-Cribas of Port Arthur, Cory Turner of Beaumont, Hector Flores of Port Arthur, and Brian Magana of Port Arthur; and front from left, Alejandro Padron of Beaumont, Alaina Harbert of Nederland, and Thien Pham of Port Arthur. Not pictured is Malcom Watkins of Port Arthur.

    Eight Lamar State College Port Arthur students earned top state technical skills honors at a recent competition. Now they’ve set their sights on a national title.

    LSCPA earned seven gold medals, a silver and two bronze in the recent Texas SkillsUSA competition, held in Houston. Six students from LSCPA’s Graphic Design and Software Developer/Game Design programs earned those top honors in various skills competitions.
    Next up is the national competition, which will take place in June in Atlanta.

    All six of Sarita V. Medhekar’s Software Developer/Game Design program entranced walked away with gold medals. Hector Flores and Malcom Watkins, both of Port Arthur, took first place in Web Design & Development. Francisco Barrera-Cribas and Brian Magana, both also from Port Arthur, took the top spot in 3D Visualization & Development. Alaina Harbert of Nederland and Thien Pham of Port Arthur won gold in the Interactive Application & Video Game Development competition.

    “Game design and computer programming are important skillsets that provide the best opportunity for students to succeed in their career and become the future leaders of our society,” said Medhekar, the program’s director. “The fact that our college provides these life-changing skills and the ability for students to achieve gold medals at the state level speaks volumes about the potential each student carries within themselves.”

    Cory Turner of Beaumont earned two medals representing the LSCPA Graphic Design program, taking home a gold medal in Pin Design and a bronze in T-shirt Design. Alejandro Padron of Beaumont took home a silver medal in T-shirt Design and a bronze in Pin Design.

    “Seeing my students compete in this year's SkillsUSA competition was a great joy to me,” Graphic Design program director Maurice Abelman said. “I could see the eagerness in their eyes to show what they can do and the designs they worked hard to create. I knew they wanted to win and that ignited the competitive spirit in me.”

    The SkillsUSA Championships are career competition events held annually showcasing the best career and technical education students in the nation. Contests are hosted at state and national levels.

    The philosophy of the Championships is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and to keep training relevant to employers’ needs.

    Lamar State College Port Arthur is currently registering students for the Summer and Fall 2022 semesters. Anyone interested can contact a counselor at 409-984-6467, 800-477-5872 or by email at enrollmentservices@lamarpa.edu.

    Financial aid is available to students who qualify and LSCPA offers on-campus apartments at Seahawk Landing.