MARLBOROUGH – A junior at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School recently won both a bronze medal for bowling and a gold medal for a welding sculpture.
The honors came within a week of each other.
Sofia Ramirez-Granick won her gold medal at the Massachusetts Skills USA competition for welding sculptures at Blackstone Valley Technical High School on April 29.
A few days later and several thousand miles away, Sofia Ramirez-Granick won the bronze medal in the individual competition at the Colombian 2B Bowling Team at CONCECABOL in Zapopan, Mexico on May 3.
“I really just went for the experience; I didn’t expect to get a medal or anything,” Ramirez-Granick said of the bowling win. “It was really exciting. It truly was a dream come true for me.”
Student wins bowling glory
Ramirez-Granick started bowling when she was 10-years old. She was inspired by her brother, David, who had also bowled.
Ramirez-Granick, whose grandparents live in Colombia, said it had then been a dream for her to bowl for the country’s team.
She was eventually offered a spot to bowl. Though most of the players she bowled alongside live in Colombia, she said she knew most of them from traveling to visit her grandparents and training at bowling.
“It was really cool to get to know them more and see their normal day, compared to what I would normally do getting ready for a tournament,” Ramirez-Granick said. “They’re used to getting up early for tournaments, and here tournaments are at noon or 2 p.m..”
Student honored in welding
Separate from bowling, Ramirez-Granick said she was extremely excited to see that her welding work was worthy of a gold medal at SkillsUSA.
Her sculpture was Day of the Dead-themed and had a sugar skull on the front with a bridge going down from the top of the skull to a boat with a Catrina in it, representing the relationship between Mexican people and their ancestors.
Ramirez-Granick said the sculpture was inspired by her Hispanic background, adding that she has always loved seeing how Mexican people celebrate their ancestors.
“Getting the chance to go to Mexico kind of pieced all of those together to inspire me for the piece,” she said of the latter bowling trip.
Ramirez-Granick became interested in welding after visiting her brother’s back-to-school night when he was an Assabet student.
She saw sculptures students had welded and entered the metal fabrication shop because of her interest in art.
“I just fell in love with the shop. Everything about it was what I wanted to do,” Ramirez-Granick said.
Continuing her journey, Ramirez-Granick will next go on to the national Skills USA tournament, which is being held in Atlanta this month.
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