Congratulations to Mr. Jocz, one of our newest staff members, on being recognized as the 2018 CA History teacher of the year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
In 2016, he was honored as the CA Teacher of the Year for his innovative teaching at Downtown Magnet.

photo courtesy of Laschoolreport.com
Read the entire press release here. PressRelease Jocz
Congratulations to all the SOCES Engineering Academy Seniors and their Achievements!
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Graduating Class | Student | AP + PLTW Award |
CTE Pathway Completion | University Program |
Competition Accomplishments & Industry Certifications |
2018 |
Shannon Lamb
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ID 15-16
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![]() -Intro to Design
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UC Davis
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![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User2015 Mini Urban Challenge National Championship
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2018 |
Ray Sakanoue
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![]() ID 15-16
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![]() -Intro to Design 15-16
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UC San Diego |
![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User2015 Mini Urban Challenge Western Regional Competition
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2018 | ![]() Smit Rajyaguru
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![]() ID 15-16
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![]() -Intro to Design
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UC Berkley |
![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User2015 Mini Urban Challenge Western Regional Competition
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2018 | ![]() Cris Barillos
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![]() ID 15-16
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![]() -Intro to Design
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San Jose State |
![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified UserAutoDesk Fusion Certified User2018 SkillsUSA
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2018 |
Ariful Rigan |
![]() ID 15-16
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UC Berkley |
![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User2015 Mini Urban Challenge Western Regional Competition
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2018 |
Ramon Roco |
ID 15-16
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![]() MIT |
![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User2015 Mini Urban Challenge Western Regional Competition
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2018 | ![]() Snehal Jain |
![]() POE 17-18
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UC Berkley BioMedical Engineering |
![]() AutoDesk Fusion Certified User |
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2018 | ![]() Cesar Bajahas Ortiz
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POE 17-18
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Civil Engineering |
![]() AutoDesk Fusion Certified User2018 SkillsUSA
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2018 | ![]() Adrien Ramos
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ID 16-17
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2018 | ![]() Ben Gelbart
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ID 16-17
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![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User
2018 SkillsUSA
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2018 |
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-Intro to Design 16-17
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![]() AutoDesk Inventor Certified User
2018 SkillsUSA
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2018 |
Elber Arevalo
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POE 17-18
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AutoDesk Fusion Certified User |
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2018 | ![]() |
ID 16-17
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![]() USC |
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2018 |
Kevin Ceron |
POE 16-17
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2018 | ![]() |
ID 16-17
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2018 | ![]() |
![]() ID 16-17
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2018 | ![]() |
![]() ID 16-17
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2018 | ![]() |
ID 16-17
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2018 | ![]() |
ID 16-17
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2018 |
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ID 16-17
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2018 |
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ID 16-17 |
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2018 |
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ID 16-17 |
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2018 |
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ID 16-17 |
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SOCES Engineering Teams Win at SkillsUSA California Regional Event
SOCES Engineering Teams competed in the SkillsUSA California Regional competition which was held in downtown Los Angeles at LA Trade Tech on Jan 27 and Feb 3. The competition is for public middle, high school and college/postsecondary students enrolled in career and technical education programs. SkillsUSA has a nationwide membership of over 300,000 students and showcases 100 hands-on skill and leadership contests, representing 130 different occupational areas.
The SOCES Engineering Teams had contestants from both middle and high school in a variety of Engineering related events. All of the students are enrolled in Project Lead The Way Engineering courses at SOCES which are part of the Career Technical Education program. The pre-engineering curriculum offers one engineering class each year starting in elementary and continuing through middle and high school. Each class focuses on a different area of Engineering. All of the competitors are enrolled in the SOCES PLTW CTE Engineering courses and are also members of the after school Engineering/Robotics club which meets after school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, where the students work hard to prepare for a wide variety of Engineering related competitions.
The students earned a total of 15 medals, which included four (4) first place, three (3) second place, and two (2) third place medals in competition. All of the following teams and individuals will represent SOCES and LAUSD in the SkillsUSA California State competition which will be held in Ontario, CA the week of April 22.
The results are as follows:
HIGH SCHOOL
1st (Gold)
Principles of Engineering/Technology – Smit R
Humanoid Robotics – Cesar O, Vedant P
2nd (Silver)
Principles of Engineering/Technology – Shannon L
Quiz Bowl – Cole L, Cris B, Ben G, Vedant P, Cesar R
3rd (Bronze)
Job Interview – Shannon L
Others advancing to the State Competition:
Humanoid Robotics – Nicolas F, Chirath K – 4th place
Humanoid Robotics – Ganaka W, Ray S – 5th place
Additive Manufacturing – Cristopher B and Eddie S – 5th place
MIDDLE SCHOOL
1st (Gold)
Team Engineering Challenge – Zoe R, Vaidehi Z, Sofia A
Job Interview – Vaidehi Z
2nd (Silver)
Job Interview – Zoe R
3rd(Bronze)
Job Interview – Darshana Z
Other advancing to the State Competition:
Job Interview – Darshansinh Z – 4th place
20 Second Elevator Story – Sofia A – 6th place
SOCES Engineering Middle School and High School Teams Take First Place in Aerospace Competition!

SOCES MS and HS Engineering Teams celebrate their victory at the 40th Annual Aerospace Robert H. Herndon Science and Engineering Competition.
Engineering students SOCES in both middle and high school placed first in the experimental portion of Aerospace Corp.’s 40th Annual Robert H. Herndon Science Competition.
The contest, held May 26th in El Segundo on the Aerospace campus, drew schools from across Los Angeles County, with students competing in the essay and experimental categories.

Middle School Engineering Students at their research booth. From left to right: Ms. Yamagata, Sofie Arancibia, Kayla Kossoff, Zoe Ramirez, Vaidehi Zala and Gracie Arancibia.
The middle school team’s research was titled, “The Hanging Alarm Clock” They identified a problem in which their peers have difficulties in waking up in the morning. The team engineered a solution by building a hanging alarm clock with an ultrasonic sensor that triggers a motor that raises the clock away from the sleeper when they try and reach for it. This forces the sleeper to get up out of bed to try to turn it off.

The SOCES Middle School Engineering Team Receiving their 1st Place Award. From left to right: Oliver Ambrosia (Aerospace mentor), Ms. Yamagata, Sofie Arancibia, Kayla Kossoff, Gracie Arancibia, Zoe Ramirez , Vaidehi Zala.

Ava Basilio presenting the High School Engineering Project.
The high school team’s project was “The Future of Automation – Object Detection Algorithms”. They developed a computer program that utilizes a camera to recognize object shapes that can then be picked up by a robotic arm. They also wrote computer code in which the camera will recognize the skin tone of a worker and pause the automation process thereby making it safer for humans to work collaboratively with robotic systems.

SOCES High School Engineering team receiving their 1st place award. From left to right: Oliver Ambrosia (Aerospace mentor) Dave Hicks (teacher), Ariful Rigan, Smit Rajasunguru, Ava Baselio, Shannon Lamb and Ray Sakanoue.
The students worked many hours after school on these projects with the help of other mentors from industry.
SOCES students who are interested and willing to make a commitment to working on projects such as these should see Ms. Yamagata (Room 104) or Mr. Hicks (Room 106).
SOCES Engineering Team Wins at State Championship and will advance to Nationals!
Shannon Lamb
is the California State Champion!
The SOCES Engineering Team traveled to San Diego for the SkillsUSA State Championships at the Town & Country Resort, San Diego, CA on April 20-23, 2017. SkillsUSA is an organization for students enrolled in a Career Technical Education pathway course (i.e. SOCES MS and HS Engineering courses). Students have an opportunity to compete in both Leadership and Technical type competitions. SOCES students were competing in a variety of competitions including the following:
:
Principles of Engineering Technology
Shannon Lamb, Smit Rajyaguru, Adam Murtagh, Ariful Rigan, Quinn Ward
Related Technical Math
Ramon Roco
Quiz Bowl –
Team 1 – Ava Basileo, Kyle Chiu, Adam Murtagh, John Sri, Ganaka Wijesundara
Team 2 – Ben Gelbart, Quinn Ward , Cole Lazar, Angel Roco, Vedant Patel
Mobile Robotics Technology
Ethan Kurtz, John Sridaoduan
Robotics: Urban Search & Rescue
Rafael Gevorkyan, David Kazaryan
Job Interview
Shannon Lamb
Courtesy Corp
Roxanne Perez, Brisa Amador , Kimberly Galindo, Vaidehi Zala
Shannon Lamb placed first and Smit Rajyaguru placed second in the Principles of Engineering Technology competition. Shannon will now advance to the National Competition in Louisville, Kentucky!
Ramon Roco placed second in the Related Technical Math competition. Ramon will also represent California in the National Competition in Louisville, Kentucky!
The winners with their medals.
SOCES Robotics and Engineering Team Are National Champions!
