Wiregrass Georgia Technical College students recently brought home nine gold, three silver, and two bronze medals from SkillsUSA state competitions in Atlanta held in March.  SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. It is a national nonprofit organization serving teachers, high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skills service occupations, including health occupations. The SkillsUSA program hosts local, state, and national competition for students to showcase their skills learned through hands-on training in the classroom.
 
“Wiregrass is extremely proud of all our students who participated in the SkillsUSA competition.  Our instructors did an excellent job working with their students in preparing them for this state competition,” stated Wiregrass President, Dr. Tina K. Anderson. “We are especially thrilled to have nine students who won gold and will represent Wiregrass and the State of Georgia at the National SkillsUSA Championships in June.  We congratulate these students, faculty, and advisors.”
 
WTC students who competed and won gold include:

Kelvin Adams of Valdosta in Automotive Refinishing
Dakota Knudsen of Lakeland in Collision Repair
Shelby Wilkes of Hahira in Firefighter
Jeremy Johnson and William Freeland both of Valdosta, in Digital Cinema Production
Tiffany Stalvey of Homerville in First Aid/CPR
Peyton Sutton of Fitzgerald in HVAC and Refrigeration
Jesse Daniel of Douglas in Sheet Metal
Chadwick Clements of Fitzgerald in Residential System Installation
These state-level gold-medal winners will go on to represent Wiregrass Georgia Tech at the SkillsUSA National Championships in June in Louisville, Kentucky.
 
Silver medal winners from WTC were:

Austin Meeler of Valdosta in Firefighting
Dana Brown, Kayla Goble, Katie Jennings, Ashley Yelm, and Christopher Grace of Valdosta in Health Knowledge Bowl
Tiffany Maartense, of Adel in Job Skills Demo A
Otis King of Fitzgerald, in Job Interview.
 
Students who won bronze medals at the state level were:

Jacob Jodray of Valdosta in Job Skills Demo Open
Cam Ford of Nashville in Firefighting
Trey Cureton from Hahira in Prepared Speech
Jacob Walls of Fitzgerald in Technical Computer Applications
 
Wiregrass’ Firefighting students swept the state competition by claiming bronze, silver, and gold positions in the state.  The students who won gold in both auto collision repair and auto refinishing had multiple job offers at the competition.  With Georgia’s growing film industry Wiregrass was also a state stand out in the digital cinema production. This was the college’s first time entering the competition in this area it claimed top honors in the state against the state gold medal and national silver medal team from last year.