Central Valley High School students claimed top honors in a recent eight-county competition hosted by SkillsUSA, a career and technical student organization serving more than 390,000 students nationwide.

The video team of Hannah Martin-Borba and Vivian Navarro took home the first-place gold medal. It was the fifth consecutive year that a CVHS team earned gold in the Video Production skills and leadership competition; and the third year that Martin-Borba earned a gold medal.

The Central Valley team of Adrian Curiale and Louis Govaer took silver in the same competition.

The four students are part of CVHS’ Advanced Video Production class in the Career Technical Education (CTE) Media Arts Pathway.

“SkillsUSA: The Path to Building Dreams,” was the theme for the Television Video Production skills and leadership competition which involved producing a 60-second video to explain how “SkillsUSA creates programs that get students aligned, inspired, prepared and armed to start the journey on a successful career;” and “what does it take to make dreams come true?”

Students had to attach a professional resume, project plan, script, and shot list.

“The winning video included a challenging animated rotoscoping technique to convey the path to building dreams,” said Kari Copley, who is Central Valley High’s teacher for Advanced Video Production/Media Arts. “These media arts skills developed are truly a path to their dreams, as Hannah was recently accepted into the prestigious Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University in the field of Cinematography.”

Additionally, Ceres High School criminal justice students Adrian A. Fuentes, Betzaida Chavez Revuelta and Alexander E. Vas Dinis won the gold medal in the Crime Scene Investigation competition. The team beat out the Atwater High School team which claimed second and Merced’s Golden Valley High team which claimed third place.

As part of a robust CTE program, the Ceres Unified School District commits funding for students to participate in competitions that showcase the skills developed in class. 

Several student teams from Central Valley and Ceres High schools participated in multiple categories in the 2024 Skills USA Region 5 of Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin, Alpine, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties.