MOULTRIE — On Tuesday, students from across the region participated in the Associated General Contractors of Georgia (AGC) Skills Challenge.

“This is an opportunity for students to compete and demo their construction skills. We have a lot of talented students here,” said Mike Dunham, chief executive officer of AGC.

The annual event was hosted by JCI Contractors of Moultrie, at Spence Field where students from 33 counties around South and Southwest Georgia competed in construction based challenges that included blueprint reading, carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing, welding and a team build challenge.

Dunham said that JCI has been a sponsor of the Skills Challenge for many years and that it and Lyndy Jones, the owner of the company, do a great job with hosting and sponsoring the event.

Of AGC, he said, “Our members are the folks who build schools and hospitals and other important buildings. Our number one challenge is workforce. We need construction workers.”

At the event, a variety of companies from different parts of the construction industry set up booths where students could talk with them and have the opportunity to learn about them and possibly be recruited by the company, he said.

Dunham also said that he had seen a lot of parent involvement at the event with parents cheering their competing student on and he believed that the “heroes here are our teachers.”

He said, “This is sort of their ‘Friday Night Lights.’”

Wendy Murphy, Coordinated Career Academic Education teacher at Colquitt County High School, said, “It’s a great, great event.”

Colquitt County High School students participated in the welding and the electrical challenges and won some awards. Jose Garcia-Lopez won the SkillsUSA regionals in welding and will go on to compete for SkillsUSA State in Atlanta in February. Aden Sauls was the third place winner in the same competition and will also go on to compete in Atlanta. In the Tulsa Welding Competition, Juan Jose Cuevas-Avillia won first place, also winning an $8,000 scholarship to Tulsa Welding, a welder and tools. Ester Luna won sixth place in the Tulsa Welding Competition, also winning a set of tools.

Students who are members of SkillsUSA Georgia and competed in carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing and welding are eligible to earn a bid to the State Leadership and Skills Competition (SLSC) that will be held in February 2024.