Career and technical education students from Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) recently competed at the 2024 SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference, bringing home 11 medals. More than 9,000 student competitors, advisors, instructors, and industry professionals attended the conference and its skills competitions, held in Atlanta February 22 -24 at the Georgia World Congress Center. The annual event hosts more than 100 different hands-on technical trade, occupational-related, and leadership contests for students to earn the right to compete at the national conference held in late June.
Several SRTC students showcased their skills, winning top awards in their competitions. Jasper Suggs, Elvis Velasquez, Hector Montalvo, and Christopher Crittenden won first prize in TeamWorks and Conner Mullen won first place in their Welding Sculpture competitions. Christopher McGahee won second place in Electrical Construction Wiring. Cheyenne Dahlgren won third place in Customer Service.
Dual enrollment winners included: Edwin Hernandez of Tift High School, who won first prize in Mobile Electronics Installation, and Eyan Zupko of Worth County High School who won first prize in CNC Milling: 5-Axis. Wes Mims of Colquitt County High School took second prize in Industrial Motor Controls and Riley Triston of Worth County High School took second prize in Welding Sculpture.
Other SRTC competitors included: Caleb Murphy – Automotive Refinishing, Juan Marin – Customer Service, Rachel Bryan – First Aid-CPR, Camden Hurst – Industrial Motor Controls, Gabriel Keel – Job Skills Demo A, and Dylan Gamble – Welding. Other SRTC dual-enrollment competitors included: (Colquitt County) Aden Sauls and Jose Garcia – Welding, Emily Robinson – Welding Sculpture, (Worth County) Austin Connell and Marshal Cooper – Metal Working Display, and Austin Hall – Welding Sculpture.
“Southern Regional Technical College was well represented at the state conference. I am extremely proud of the students. Each of them embraced the spirit of competition, practiced non-stop to hone their skills, rose to the challenge on contest day, and proved their ability to perform at the highest expectation of their chosen career field. I have full confidence in our state winners being a force to reckon with when they compete at nationals in June,” said Tammy Roberts, SRTC SkillsUSA Advisor.
SRTC’s SkillsUSA chapter collected a prize for achieving the state’s second-largest membership increase with a total of 140 members (an 80-member increase from 2023), and recognition as a 2024 Chapter of Excellence.
SkillsUSA is a national non-profit organization of students, teachers, and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA helps high school and college students enrolled in career and technical education programs to excel by teaching employability skills such as communication, problem-solving, and leadership in conjunction with their trade, technical, and service occupations skills.