FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2013
Contact: David Hitt, CTE Administration
Career & Technical Education Student Achievements!
74 Plano ISD Career and Technical Education students advance to national/international level
competitions in their various organizations! Congratulations to the CTE students, staff and organizations
for the recent success at their state level events.
DECA Emerging Leader and Entrepreneurs – 8 students advanced from State to International.
Additional recognition to the following “highest level” winners in their DECA State events!
Brian Hanks (Plano Senior High – Professional Selling Event)
Ananya Jha (Plano Senior High – Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making)
Saachi Minocha (Plano Senior High – Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making)
Nicolas Flores (Plano West – Principles of Marketing)
Jack MacHemehl (Plano West – Travel & Tourism Marketing Team Decision Making)
Jordan Marshall (Plano West – Travel & Tourism Marketing Team Decision Making)
Hailey Smith (Plano West – Sports & Entertainment Marketing Series)
Makaela Starks (Plano West – Retail Merchandising)
FBLA Future Business Leaders - 53 students advanced from State to National.
The following 32 students were 1st place winners in their FBLA State events!
Susan Chen (Plano Senior High - Parliamentary Procedures)
Ximei Li (Plano Senior High - Parliamentary Procedures)
Sriram Ravula (Plano Senior High – Business Communications)
Nishesh Sharma (Plano Senior High - Parliamentary Procedures)
Tiffany Weng (Plano Senior High - Parliamentary Procedures)
Akul Arora (Plano East - Business Ethics)
Maral Arslanian (Plano East - Marketing)
Vishal Ramesh Bhat (Plano East - Banking & Financial Systems)
Armando Castaneda-Elguero (Plano East - Marketing)
Kevin Chandra (Plano East - Entrepreneurship)
Punya Chittajallu (Plano East - Business Ethics)
Alex Zizai Dao (Plano East - Emerging Business Issues)
Rakshana Govindarajan (Plano East - Digital Design & Promotion)
Rusheel Guduru (Plano East - Electronic Career Portfolio)
Malvika Gupta (Plano East - Emerging Business Issues)
Stanley George Joseph (Plano East - Management Information System)
Ryan Hwarang Kwon (Plano East - Management Information System)
Mounika Mutyala (Plano East - Digital Design & Promotion)
Sarad B. Pamidimukkala (Plano East - Economics)
Vinod Jonathan Samuel (Plano East - Management Information System)
Lakshmi Seelam (Plano East - Global Business)
Chandni S. Shah (Plano East - Global Business)
Sonia Taneja (Plano East - Help Desk)
Anirudh Rajesh Zaveri (Plano East - Entrepreneurship)
Edward Zhao (Plano East - Banking & Financial Systems)
Jonathan Lee Huang (Plano West - Hospitality Management)
Srishti Kapur (Plano West - Business Procedures)
Lisa P. Michaels (Plano West - Job Interview)
Chris Sun (Plano West - Business Calculations)
Samuel Z. Wang (Plano West - Business Law)
Karthik Prabhakaran (Clark High School - Introduction to Technology Concepts)
Elizabeth Wen Tian (Jasper High School - Business Math)
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HOSA Future Health Professionals– 9 students advanced from State to National.
The following students won 1st place at their event at HOSA State!
Mitchell Hoenig (Jasper - Medical Math)
Jenna McGuffey (Clark – Forensic Medicine)
Nithya Thomas (Clark – Forensic Medicine)
Laura Kenyon (Plano Senior High – Nursing Assisting)
Adam Jurecki (Plano Senior High - Health Care Issues)
(left to right) Clark HS Forensic Medicine Team-1st Place, Plano East Forensic Medicine Team-2nd Place
Ag Science
Congratulations to the many FFA students that have done well at area, district and state level Career
Development Events. Students competed in a variety of events including Wildlife, Floriculture, Dairy
Products, Entomology, Food Science and Ag Mechanics. Eight students from Plano Senior High and Plano
East Senior High FFA chapters will be competing in the State Veterinary Medicine CDE at the Texas A&M
University College of Veterinary Medicine in early May and they are expected to do very well as they
have done in previous years.
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During spring break the Plano East FFA Ag Mechanics team won 2nd place in the Shop Table class at the
Houston Livestock Show and brought home many prizes including welders, shop tools and lots of other
equipment that will help the team to continue their success in the future.
The Plano West FFA chapter has been represented this year at the State FFA level by having Madeline
Minchillo serving as a Texas state FFA officer. Madeline will be presenting at the State FFA Convention
this summer and then giving her retiring address. The Plano West FFA chapter will be recognized at the
convention as well.
Ian Sprouse of the Plano East FFA Chapter has been selected to take part in the National FFA
Organization’s Costa Rica Proficiency and Stars Travel Seminar in June 2013 after being recognized as a
national finalist in the area of Agricultural Mechanics Design and Fabrication Entrepreneurship/Placement during the National Agricultural Proficiency Awards. The trip, made
possible by individual proficiency award area sponsors Carry-on Trailer Corporation and RAM Trucks as a
special project of the National FFA Foundation, enables FFA members by providing them with a global
perspective of agricultural production and markets. One finalist from each area of the National
Agricultural Proficiency Awards (FFA.org/proficiency) plus each of the 16 American Star Awards
(FFA.org/stars) candidates are selected to take part in the seminar that originates
in San José, Costa Rica, and includes an impressive array of activities detailing the country’s
agricultural pursuits and cultural heritage. “The Costa Rica Proficiency and Stars Travel Seminar
empowers FFA leaders by providing them with a global perspective,” said National FFA Organization
CEO Dwight Armstrong. “Through this experience, participants gain knowledge by visiting Costa Rica’s
farms and agribusinesses – locations that will certainly expand their personal horizons about
international agriculture.” The seminar includes visits to a Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A.
banana farm, a FINMAC cacao farm and a tour of a pineapple plantation. Participants will also tour part
of the Costa Rica’s rainforest before visiting the Doka Coffee Estate for a tour and an explanation of its
agricultural processes. Each of the sites visited contribute to meeting the seminar’s objectives of
encouraging participants to develop a global perspective while experiencing the diversity in agriculture
around the world.
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Computer Science
Congratulations to the computer programming teams from PESH, PSHS and PWSH for their participation
in the district and regional UIL programming contests.
District UIL 10-5A
1st – Michael Hwang, PWHS (tie)
4th – David Rosen, PWHS
6th – Ronbo Fan, PWHS (tie)
2nd – PWHS Team (Michael Hwang, David Rosen, Ronbo Fan, Saikrishna Arcot)
Regional UIL 2-5A
2nd – Ronbo Fan, PWHS (tie) – Will compete at State on May 21.
HP Code Wars
8th – PSHS Novice Team (Sam Barani, Alex Szeto and Thomas Lu)
13th – PSHS Advanced Team (Bradley Barrios, Susan Chen, Tyler Henson)
UTD High School Programming Contest
4th – PSHS Novice Team (Evan Katz, Chris Cerreta, Alex Hopson)
6th – PSHS Advanced Team (Bradley Barrios, Tyler Henson, Abby Lam)
All computer science competitors and sponsors.
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Culinary Arts (Plano East Senior High) – 6 students competed at the State FCCLA Conference with 3
advancing to National. Winning 1st place at State in the Culinary related Entrepreneurship Star Event
competition were Sarah Clouser, Sarah Fetchko and Kaylyn Vite! Congratulations students, this is quite
an accomplishment. We know you will represent Plano and Texas very well at the National Conference
in Nashville!
Skills USA - Automotive Technology
Congratulations to the six Plano East Senior High automotive technology students that advanced to the
State Skills USA contest in Waco. The teams competed in Automotive Service Technology, Automotive
Skills Quiz Bowl and Automotive Tool Identification. The teams did exceptionally well for their first year
of competition.
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