On April 8th to the 11th, the Los Fresnos Screen Printing team competed at the TexasSkillsUSA Conference in Corpus Christi. Due to staff errors, the team was unable to secure the Subaru that they had originally planned on using and was instead given a van from CTEC. Other than that, the traveling portion of this trip ran fairly smoothly,
Once they’d arrived in Corpus Christi, the team made their way to the Hillard convention center near the USS Lexington museum and the Texas State Aquarium, both of which were too out of budget for the team to visit, to sign into the competition. Since the hotel check in time wasn’t until 3 in the afternoon, and the aquarium and Lexington were way out of budget, the team made their way to the La Palmera mall to eat at the food court and walked around the mall to kill time until check in, which was done around three before the team went to dinner at Cheuy’s Tex Mex.
The following day, the team arrived at the Hillard convention center in their uniforms with two members competing in screen printing, and the two non- competing members there in support and to represent the school. In between contestants, the team members viewed the student projects around the exhibit hall, the booths that other schools and organizations had there to give information on what they are and what they do, and walked around the little market that was set up in the hallway outside the exhibit hall.
“My favorite part was seeing all the competitors there doing what they love. plus seeing new places with everyone,” stated Jose Figueroa when asked what his favorite part of the trip was.
Once done with the competition on our end, the team went back to the hotel to rest and before heading to the Cinemark theater near by, At the theatre, the team bought snacks and drinks to eat while enjoying the Project Hail Mary movie before ending up at a McDonalds for a late night dinner to take back to the hotel.
The next day, the team spent their time, at least whatever time the constant rain allowed, exploring places around the hotel and overall enjoying their experience. Throughout most of the trip, the team ate at fast food places as they were quick, easy, and ensured everyone had options of what to eat. While the team explored a few places, there were constant storms throughout Corpus Christi so they ended up back at the hotel fairly quickly, but not before having to watch their coach run through the pouring rain to go get the van from the parking lot to go get them to keep them out of the rain.
On Friday, that last day that the team was in Corpus, was the award ceremony where all the competing schools gathered in the arena to eagerly find out who placed in what. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the screen printing team did not place and headed home once they were done with the award ceremony.
“Even though we left with nothing, the overall experience was amazing and I made fun memories I won’t ever forget,” Figueroa said.