Moultrie Technical College’s SkillsUSA competitors and advisers brought home eight medals following the March 13-15 state competition held in Atlanta with two MTC gold winners advancing to the 2014 nationals this summer.

Eighteen Moultrie Technical College (MTC) students competed with hundreds of other students from Georgia’s technical colleges in the 2014 State SkillsUSA Competition March 13-15, and eight came away with gold, silver or bronze hardware in the collegiate division.

Accompanied by seven advisers and instructors from Moultrie Tech, the MTC students joined other competitors at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel in Atlanta with contests held at the Georgia International Convention Center and Atlanta Technical College.

Computer Information Systems program student Glenn Gardiner of the MTC Moultrie Campus scored first place and a gold medal in the Internetworking competition while Nicholas Zabriskie of the MTC Tifton Campus brought home gold in the Welding and Joining contest.

The first place finishes earned by Gardiner and Zabriskie at the state level have garnered them the opportunity to compete in Kansas City, Mo., in June at the 2014 SkillsUSA National Conference. This year’s national competition will be held in conjunction with SkillsUSA 50th anniversary.

Silver medals went to MTC students Kathryn Dunnigan in Carpentry, Cat Graham in Prepared Speech, Haley Patterson in Esthetics with model Amber Chitty, and to the team of James Purvis and Elliott Spence as second place finishers in the Mechatronics competition. Students bringing home bronze medals were Chris Carman in Related Technical Math and Andrew Harnage in Auto Refinishing.

Other students who competed in their individual and team contests were Nikki Bullard in Job Demo B with model Heather Ashberry, Jamie Mascorro in Collision Repair Technology, Hunter Minter in Auto Service Technology, Susan Musgrove in Electrical Construction and Wiring, Joey Smith in HVAC, Elvis Strickland in Computer Programming, and Anita Williamson in Job Interview.

MTC SkillsUSA advisers Rebecca Clark, Cari Colby, Ubaldo Gonzalez, Tim Morton, Brandon Reed, Ken Robison and Kris Strawder agree that the students represented the college very well at the event.

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. The organization’s mission is to empower its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. Moultrie Tech has SkillsUSA chapters in both Moultrie and Tifton.