MOULTRIE — Students from across the region participated in the Associated General Contractors of Georgia Skills Challenge Thursday in Moultrie. 

JCI Contractors of Moultrie hosted the annual event at Spence Field. Nineteen schools from around South and Southwest Georgia competed. There were 265 competitors who competed in challenges that included blueprint reading, carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing, welding and team build.

“As the host contractor for the South+Southwest Georgia event, our team is proud to join forces with so many industry partners from our region to promote careers in construction to high school students. We understand our responsibility to showcase rewarding careers and encourage young people to consider a field that welcomes their talent and innovation,” said Lyndy Jones, president of JCI Contractors.

 The Associated General Contractors of Georgia Skills Challenge is one of eight regional events. Altogether, they will host more than 2,300 students from more than 100 schools.

“Your success in life has pretty much started right here,” said Mike Dunham, chief executive officer of AGC, at the opening of the competition.

SkillsUSA Georgia members who competed in carpentry, cabinetmaking, electrical, masonry, plumbing and TeamWorks were eligible to earn a bid to the SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Competition. It will be held in February 2025.

Colquitt County students in the competition included: Janey Bernabe in plumbing; Adrian Martin and Grevil Cubas in carpentry; and Carter Penuel and Max Powell in masonry.

Moises Luna-Becerra, a Lee County student who participates in Southern Regional Technical College’s Dual-Enrollment Program, competed in electrical.

During the competition, local students who qualified for SkillsUSA were Bernabe with a third place in plumbing and Cubas with a second place in carpentry. Also, Luna-Becerra won a third place in electrical.

The Tulsa Welding School sponsored a welding competition where the first place winner received an $8,000 scholarship to the school. The Colquitt County students who competed in this event were Jonathan Cruz, Emmanuel Luna, Christofer Villeda, Will Blanton, Brent Morris, Angel Perales and Landon Yearta.

Additionally, Patrick Terry and Nicholas Wilson competed in regional welding for a bid to the SkillsUSA Georgia State Competition.

All in all, Lee County High School was the overall winner of this year’s Skills Challenge.

For more information about Skills Challenges, please visit www.agcga.org/skills.