On Feb. 5-6, the students of Mr. O Maduneme and Mr. A. J. Jordan participated in the regional SkillsUSA competitions in individual events where students’ technical skills were challenged in computer drafting in either architecture or engineering. Students had four hours to replicate a blueprint using a CAD (computer aided design) system. They were judged on the accuracy of their projects and ranked. Cedar Park swept first in both competitions, with junior Sagar Kansara taking the gold in engineering and senior Ayah Alomari earning first in architecture. Everyone who got a blue ribbon for their-year long CAD project   moved on to the state competition in Corpus Christi on March 26th.

“It is nice to see these things pay off because myself, along with my engineering partner Ben Dattilo, have put countless hour into our project and having it all be recognized is validating,” Kansara said.

Mr. Maduneme mirrored Sagar’s remarks.

“I am blessed to have students who are self motivated because I can teach them everything they need to know, but resistance or apathy kills the educational process,” Maduneme said. “So yes, I am so lucky to have my students.”

The second day of the SkillsUSA was the Quizbowl competition, a jeopardy-style game between over half a dozen schools, each containing a team of five with alternates. In this competition, a panel of judges ask prewritten questions over current events, history, science, math, writing and the SkillsUSA handbook. Teams used a buzzer to answer questions. First to buzz in gets to answer, if the answer is wrong then the team loses one point, if it is right, they gain a point. This process continues for 100 questions with breaks every 25. Even with team composition being edited up until the final moments before the event, Cedar Park got second place and will be continuing onto state, though the stability of the condition of their team, with changes still being made to their roster, is still unsure

Finally, Cedar Park got gold yet again for their CANstruction design, which is charity event where students raise cans  and use those cans to build a freestanding structure with a gimmick and catchphrase to match. This year, Maduneme students have decided to make CAN-sylvania with the tagline “Hunger sucks.”

“Always donate when you can because we’ll make sure it gets to people who desperately need it,”Ayah Al Omari, Key Club President and SkillsUSA participant said, “But now is the rare opportunity where every donation will not only help  those less fortunate, but have the added bonus of helping CPHS in a fun, creative way.”

When Cedar Park’s SkillsUSA team traveled to state, their CANstruction was composed of sixteen hundred cans and stood approximately six and a half feet tall, winning them the title of Best Meal as one of only three constructions given an award.