The BUZZ: PHS students win big at media competition

Petaluma students win Broadcast News award: Four students from Petaluma High School picked up a highly competitive award last month when their short “broadcast news” media project won a gold medal during the California State SkillsUSA Championships in Ontario, California, on April 25. The students - Jamie Cantieri, Sean Graham, Logan Reuter and Enrique Alverde – will now represent the state at the 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, in late June.

The event is a showcase of students from around the country (about 18,000 of them) who are engaged in technical education programs at the high school level. PHS’ SkillsUSA team, with team advisor Chris Jones and student observers from the school’s engineering program, will be attending the event, for which they are now actively fundraising.

“We are so proud to represent our state on the national stage,” said PHS senior and team parliamentarian Jaime Cantieri, in a press release. “I was hopeful we would do well as this is my last year in high school and I wanted to leave on a high note.”

The students’ Petaluma community is invited to meet the team and glimpse the winning video project at a special screening/benefit event on Tuesday, June 4, at Keller Street CoWork (140 Keller St.), from 5-6 p.m. Donations will be collected at the event, and additional donations can be made through the Petaluma People Services Center. Contact Elece Hempel at elece@petalumapeople.org if you’d like to contribute.

“We are so proud to be able to celebrate such a talented group of students,” added Danielle Stroble, Community Director of Keller Street CoWork. What an accomplishment to excel at the state level, and we look forward to cheering them on at the national event.”

The SkillsUSA team is hoping to raise $10,000 to help with travel costs, and has set its sights on raising and additional $10,000 to help update PHS’ media equipment, purchasing a telecaster and teleprompter.

(Have a good idea for a BUZZ item? Contact Community Editor David Templeton at david.templeton@arguscourier.com)