Seniors Jeanette Ramirez and Erich Womack advanced to the SkillsUSA national competition after placing first in Audio/Radio Production at the state competition last weekend. They created a two minute news segment and a 30-second commercial in competition.

“The competition was nerve racking especially at the very end because the cut off time [for the competition] was 1 pm,” Womack said. “I handed the adviser of the competition the flash drive with our project on it at 12:59. As he took it out of my hand the clock turned to 1:00. But other than almost passing out from an anxiety attack, it was fun.”

The competition is a team effort and depends a lot on collaborating with and listening to your teammate.

“Competition was really stressful,” Ramirez said. “I wrote and recorded everything while Womack edited everything. We collaborated really well and we turned in our project right as the clock turned from 12:59 to 1, but all in all, it was really fun.”

There was an awards ceremony to announce winners at the end of the competition.

“Winning was totally unexpected, mainly because it was my first time to compete in Skills,” Womack said, “but when we won I couldn’t put together any words. All I could do was scream.”

Womack and Ramirez were the only students from Lakeview to advance to Nationals in Kentucky.

“I actually stayed at the hotel with Lizbeth [Sanchez] because she wasn’t feeling good while everyone else went to the ceremony,” Ramirez said. “Everyone called me saying ‘You and Womack got GOLD!’ I was jumping in bed laughing and screaming for like 10 minutes straight.”

Nationals will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 19-23.

“I’m incredibly excited [for Nationals],” Womack said. “I have never been so excited that I couldn’t talk before.”