EAST LOS ANGELES : Vocational Student 2nd in U.S. Contest

Advertising design student Jeffrey Trujillo did not disappoint the classmates who trusted him to represent them and their school at a national vocational competition last month.

Trujillo, 23, took the place of a student who was afraid to fly to the Louisville, Ky., competition last month and came home with a silver medal for himself and a trophy for the class at the East L.A. Occupational Center. His presentation was a bulletin board display used in advertising.

The award was the first for the school, which for the last four years has sent students to the national competition of the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. This year’s contest, with 6,000 students competing in dozens of fields, was June 22 to 25.

“California schools took 10 medals and L.A. Unified schools took six of those 10 awards,” said industrial coordinator Ben Avila. “These are our first national medals, so we did pretty good.”

Trujillo and fellow students Isabel Alferes and Genoveva Mariscalmade it to the nationals by winning the regional competition at Cal State Los Angeles in March and medals in the state competition in April in Sacramento.

In addition to demonstrating that they had mastered their trades, the students were required to give two-minute presentations and answer at least 20 questions on their subjects.

Alferes, who won top honors in the local competition despite speaking very little English, represented the school’s cosmetology department. Mariscal competed in graphic communications and off-set printing.

Trujillo worked on most of the winning design himself and therefore was able to explain it to the judges with confidence, he said.

“I did work a lot on that, so I knew it back and forth, up and down,” he said.