The Collegian  ONLINE
         April 28, 2008

Courtesy photo

Eduardo Galindo (from left), Marie Melendez, Stephanie Garza and Alexis Reyes are members of the state championship Skills USA Broadcast News team. The team will travel to Kansas City in June to participate in the national competition.

This June, one of UTB/TSC’s Skills USA teams will make the trip to Kansas City to try and bring home a fourth straight national title in the broadcast news competition.

The university took two teams to San Antonio to compete in the broadcast news competition from March 27 to 29, according to a news release. The state championship team was comprised of Eduardo Galindo, technical director; Alexis Reyes, floor manager; and Stephanie Garza and Marie Melendez; anchors.

The team consisting of Roman Gonzalez, floor manager; Linet Cisneros, technical director; and Melissa Lerma and Dafne Maldonado; anchors, received the silver medal. Gonzalez also garnered a bronze medal in extemporaneous speaking.

Garza said she first heard about the team when another student in the Communication Program suggested that she audition.

“We prepared so much in advance and our biggest competition really was the other team, here, from UTB, because we had seen how they prepared and by watching your competition, that makes you better and helps you find what you need to improve on,” she said.

In preparation for nationals, the team is working on making its scripts more newsworthy and better fitting to their personality, Garza said.

“Just practice over and over again and really take criticism and not take it to heart because it’s all for improvement,” she said.

Freshman Cecilia Casanova also made the trip and competed in criminal justice. Winning the gold, she qualified for nationals. Casanova also brought home a silver medal in job skills demonstration and was elected treasurer for Skills USA Texas.