Jessica Saadian, staff writer
Out of 40,000 ROP students in the LA Country, five students from Beverly were among the finalists who competed at the annual Outstanding Student Recognition Competition on March 6. Nominees were required to be interviewed by industry professionals, present a work product, complete a job application and submit a resume.
All five representatives won a medal. The winners are:
- senior Natalie Gordon, winning a gold medal in Advanced Film and Video Production
- senior Julia Waldow, winning a silver medal in Desktop Publishing
- senior Eva Zheng, winning a silver medal in Entrepreneurship/Robotics
- junior Sarah Peskin, winning a bronze medal in Office Occupations/Work Experience
- senior Sheyna Messiqua, winning a bronze medal in Psychology and Counseling Principles.
Each ROP teacher selected their own outstanding students to compete on campus for a chance to move on to the county competition. Since only five nominees were allowed to go from each district, ROP Director Megen Anspach, along with other panel members, interviewed each student and chose who would enter the final competition.
“No one can teach someone to have passion for a subject,” Anspach said. “I was looking for students [who would be fit for the competition] to have passion and to connect their high school work and career goals for the future.”
Students who placed top gold and silver will receive a scholarship as well as recognition for their work.
However, Messiqua felt that it was not about winning or losing; just participating in the competition for the first time was an experience and to win a medal was unexpected for her.
“There were a lot of people who I was competing against and I spoke to a few of them and some of their projects (pieces of work) were incredible,” Messiqua said. “I felt quite unprepared compared to a lot of people so I was not expecting anything.”
According to Anspach, this is not the first time students at Beverly received medals because they have a reputation for doing well in the ROP competitions.
“I’m thrilled that students are getting the recognition they deserve and it’s always a joy to be working with these students here at Beverly,” Anspach said.
Students who won gold and silver are invited to a county-wide banquet to see who took over all gold and silver.