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Occupational Olympics: Turlock wins large school award; Hughson takes small school honors
Occupational Olympics1
Turlock High Future Health Professionals members Angeline Navas-Esquivel, Grace Azevedo, Jocelyn Paredes, Zugeyry Jimenez-Ponce and Anthony Vasquez demonstrate how to stop someone from bleeding out during an emergency during at the Occupational Olympics event held Thursday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Turlock and Hughson high schools took top honors at the Stanislaus County Office of Education’s 38th Occupational Olympics and Career Exposition, held Thursday at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds.

Turlock took first place overall in the large-school division, while Hughson was tops in the small-school category.

Enochs High (Modesto), meanwhile, took home the Best Career Pathway Exhibit for its forensic biotechnology program.

“This is a fun, real-world experience with a little competition,” said John Acha, Turlock Unified School District’s director of secondary education. “So, the things that they’ve been working on at the school sites, in the classrooms, and in those pathways specifically, they get to put it to the test.”

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City of Turlock worker Rudy Gutierrez directs Pitman High junior Marc Sousa on how to operate a back hoe during the Occupational Olympics (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Nearly 900 students from 21 high schools, academies and institutes throughout out the county competed in 15 different occupational categories.

“It takes real courage for a student to want to join and compete in this,” said Saundra Day, Stanislaus County assistant superintendent of education options. “It can be scary; it can be intimidating. So, I just commend the students that take the initiative to compete in this. Honestly, they’re all winners at the end of the day because they could easily not have the courage to participate.”

In addition to the competition, local agencies and companies were on hand, lining the walkways of the fairgrounds so that when students were done competing, they could take part in a job fair.

“We try to bring out a variety of employees because there are a lot of positions at Turlock Irrigation District — from trade program to electrical engineering degree,” said TID’s communications division manager Constance Anderson, who was manning the Plinko game and the prize wheel at the TID booth. “The catch is, they have to come up and talk to us if they want to play the games.”
TID brought out a time-lapse video of a recent project, to demonstrate a portion of the types of jobs available at the utility.

In addition to TID, other agencies on site included the city of Turlock; Turlock Police Department; Turlock Fire Department; Stanislaus County Consolidated Fire Protection Division; Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office; Stanislaus County Library; Community Hospice and Health Services; California Highway Patrol; CalTrans; Blue Diamond Almonds; Lawrence Livermore Lab; Laborers International Union; Volt Institute; Yosemite Farm Credit; and others.

Top finishers in each event were:

Ag engineering/construction trades: 1st—Justin Hack (Turlock); 2nd—Caleb Voight (Turlock); 3rd—Riley Zwart (Gregori).

Ag equipment technology: 1st—Gary Coldicutt (Hughson); 2nd—Haiden Lopez (Turlock); 3rd—Ethan Larson (Hughson).

Animal husbandry: 1st—Anika Garrett (Oakdale); 2nd—Natalie Van Ruiten (Waterford); 3rd—Flood Cailee (Oakdale).

Basic life support CPR/first aid: Isabel Castellanos and Melanie Alvarado (Turlock); 2nd—Gionna Feliciano and Johanna Mendoza (Central Valley); 3rd—Macyn Cozart and Austin Kith (Patterson).

Career pathway booth: 1st—Enochs; 2nd—Johansen, 3rd—Central Valley.

Criminal justice: 1st—Emily Roland (Pitman); 2nd—Matthew Martinez (Davis); 3rd—Vanina Kaur (Pitman).

Firefighter candidate: 1st—Benjamin Fletcher (Escalon); 2nd—Jacob Peeler (Enochs); 3rd—Ty White (Beyer).

Floriculture: 1st—Samantha Rodriguez (Patterson); 2nd—Mia Banuelos (Patterson); 3rd—Sara Johnson (Beyer).

Job-seeking contest: 1st—Kate Chambers (Turlock); 2nd—Lillian Agueda (Hughson); 3rd—Madyson Daniels (Central Valley).

Medical occupations: 1st—Bastien Ancheta (Oakdale); 2nd—Niel Ongkingco (Oakdale); 3rd—Calliope Holeman (Oakdale).

Pitsco drag racing (lightweight): 1st—Mark Valgos (Turlock); 2nd—Jacob Nickolauson (Oakdale); 3rd—Moses Martinez (Turlock).

Pitsco drag racing (heavyweight): 1st—Rodolfo Gomez (Turlock); 2nd—Pedro Romero (Turlock); 3rd—Drake Herrera.

Pitsco drag racing (design): 1st—Miguel Hernandez (Oakdale); 2nd—Dayton Volk (Turlock); 3rd—Omar Valadez (Turlock).

Robotics: 1st—Joseph Yakligian and Tyler Raff (Oakdale); 2nd—Aiden Vargas and Ryan Lo (Oakdale); 3rd—Albert Gonzales and Eric Reyes (Central Valley).

Salad preparation/display: 1st—Diana Godinez (Oakdale); 2nd—Tyler Haun (Oakdale); 3rd—Samara Wilkerson (Riverbank).

Small engine technology: 1st—Dominic Cortese (Beyer); 2nd—D.J. Davison (Beyer); 3rd—Drake Herrera (Oakdale).

Video game design: 1st—Austin Kuhlmann, Hien Ho and Ramona Fernandez (Enochs); 2nd—Austin Cole, Colby Crofts and Luis Gaspar (Oakdale); 3rd—Kim Antoinette Barcellos, Madina Ahmadzoay and Mirella Torres (Orestimba).

Welding: 1st—Logan Ledford (Patterson); 2nd—Che Duque Sandoval (Turlock); 3rd—Hans Tyson (Turlock).

“I was able to use all of my skills to my advantage,” said Turlock High sophomore Jaden Loflin, who judged sheep in the Animal Husbandry competition. “I think it was a good leadership-building experience, as well.”