During this inaugural year of Liberty Hill ISD’s participation in SkillsUSA, two of our Panthers made their mark as they earned “Superior” ratings at the State SkillsUSA competition in Corpus Christi, Texas on Saturday, April 1. Senior Cassidy McDonald and sophomore Gigi Muniu demonstrated their abilities to analyze, investigate, organize and display art skills through their criminal justice display panels. 

Liberty Hill High School started a SkillsUSA chapter at the campus in order to expose Criminal Justice students to new opportunities supporting their personal and professional growth.  Students are able to apply what they have learned in the classroom in a competitive environment. 

Cassidy has always had a passion for art and science, which drew her organically to submit her work on facial reconstruction to the competition. “My grandpa is a huge inspiration to me. He is a sculptor and owns his own art gallery in Nebraska. He would tell me that I had raw talent, and that meant so much to me,” McDonald said with a smile. Cassidy has plans to attend Austin Community College and has her eyes set on Texas State University to complete her bachelors in a degree that will help her with her goals of working as a forensic facial pathologist, mortuary reconstructionist or evidence technician. 

Gigi’s project was on crime scene investigation. Having a keen interest in investigation, Gigi said that she enjoyed the many elements that went into researching a crime scene, including math. “I didn’t realize how important math and measurement would be when understanding and solving a crime scene,” said Miniu. After high school, Gigi would like to go to school for International Relations and one day be an Intelligence Analyst. 

The display panel category required the participants to be organized, detailed and creative. Both girls were surprised and very excited to earn the superior rating. 

In addition to these two state champions, the LHISD SkillsUSA team boasted 17 students as organization members. Students competed in areas such as felony traffic stop, building search, crime scene investigation, forensic science and criminal justice display panel. 

“Participating in the SkillsUSA competition is a great opportunity for our students that are looking into law enforcement careers to get a ‘real world’ experience,” said LHHS SkillsUSA Advisor Bernardo Acosta. “We hope that SkillsUSA memberships will increase and, of course, place in more categories at competitions. SkillsUSA is a phenomenal organization that can assist students in improving their raw skills so that they can be well-respected and contributing members of society."  

“Participating in the SkillsUSA competition is a great opportunity for our students that are looking into law enforcement careers to get a "real world" experience to what they have to look forward to, said Liberty Hill High School SkillsUSA Advisor Bernardo Acosta.   We hope that SkillsUSA memberships will increase and, of course, place in more categories at competitions.  SkillsUSA is a phenomenal organization that can assist students in improving their raw skills so that they can one day be well-respected and fruitful contributing members of society."  

LHISD Communications
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