Six SGTC Students ‘Go Gold’ at SkillsUSA State Competitions

March 29, 2019
A group of students stand together in grass
The Gold and Silver medal winners stand with advisors Charles Christmas (far left), Victoria Herron (second from left) and Chad Brown (third from right), SGTC President Dr. John Watford (third from left), and SkillsUSA state officer-elect Ashley Holland (center, red coat).

Nineteen students from South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) recently traveled to Atlanta to compete in the state-level SkillsUSA competitions. Of the 19, six students received gold medals in their competitions and will advance to the SkillsUSA National competitions in Louisville, KY at the end of June.

The students who will advance include: Ethan Lyle for placing first in aviation maintenance technology; Charles Westra and Tison Smith (team of two) for placing first in the additive manufacturing competition; and Wayne Cox, Jake Lamb and James McAllister (team of three) for placing first in the chapter display competition. Ashley Holland will also attend the SkillsUSA National conference in Louisville for being elected as a SkillsUSA Georgia Postsecondary 2019-2020 State Officer.

While they don’t advance to the national’s level, two other students represented the college well and earned silver medals – KaNijah Foster for her performance in the culinary arts customer service competition, and Colyn Johnson for placing second in the aviation maintenance technology competition.

Other students who attended and competed included: Prince Burns, Savion Evans, William Cobb, Ryan Carter, Deja Atkinson, Patrick Hortman, Braxton Jones, Joel Barnes, Brennan Morris and Allan Sparling. Joining the students were their SkillsUSA advisors: Victoria Herron, Charles Christmas, Glynn Cobb, Chad Brown, Cynthia Carter and Dr. Michele Small. 

During the awards ceremony, advisor Charles Christmas (aviation maintenance technology instructor) accepted a trophy of appreciation on behalf of SGTC for hosting the aviation maintenance technology competition on its campus in February. The competition hosted eight contestants from three colleges.

The championships showcased the skills of Georgia’s students through hands-on competitions in leadership development, occupationally related, skilled and technical science contests. All of the gold medal winners will go on to compete against other first place winners from around the country in similar competitions.

SkillsUSA is a national membership student organization that helps middle school, high school and college students who are preparing for a career in a trade, technical or skilled service occupation. The organization serves more than 335,000 students and instructors annually through hosting workforce-based competitions for the students to compete in. For more information about the organization, contact Cynthia Carter at ccarter@southgatech.edu or 229.931.2057.

More photos can be viewed here: 19 Students Compete in State SkillsUSA Competitions

23 people stand in front of a Delta airplane.
SGTC’s SkillsUSA student representatives stand with their advisors at the site of the 2019 SkillsUSA State Competitions in Atlanta.
A racecar, ambulance and inflatable mascot occupy a large area within a building.
South Georgia Tech’s occupied a large display area at the SkillsUSA state conference.