Local students show off their 'skills' at local competition

Some 200 high school students recently wrapped up a long day of competition in the Northeast Georgia Workforce Development Alliance Skills Challenge in Gainesville with Roswell High School coming away with the overall win.

According to the Associated General Contractors of Georgia (ACG Georgia), the students came from 16 different high schools to Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center in Hall County to compete on Thursday, Nov. 7.

ACG Georgia CEO Mike Dunham said the Skills Challenge is important to the future of the contracting industry.

"It's all about introducing young men and women to our industry, showing them a career path, having [for] them an opportunity to take what they're learning in school and put it to the test," Dunham said. "We saw some students that were just really, really talented."

The students competed individually and as teams in the areas of blueprint reading, broadcasting news production, cabinet making, plumbing, welding and more. 

Carroll Daniel Construction Company, based in Gainesville, spearheaded local participation in the event. Landon Boyd with Carroll Daniel, recruited participating schools and coordinated volunteers for the competition, something he's done for the last five years.

"I've done the Skills [Competition] from the infancy of it here in Hall County...and kind of built it from two schools and 20 kids to this year 16 schools, 170 competitors and another 250-plus observers," Boyd said. "I'm just excited about pulling those kids in and showing them what the industry is all about."

Boyd said Carroll Daniel has been able to hire students who came from workforce development programs in area high schools.

"It's also neat to see the kids who were sophomores a couple of years ago or juniors last year and they've come up through this thing the last few years and just seeing how they improve," Boyd said. 

ACG Georgia holds five Skills Challenges in Georgia. The overall winners from those competitions go on to compete in the regional SkillsUSA event in January. Winners of the regional event will participate in the state SkillsUSA competition in early March at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Construction students from the following schools participated in the Northeast Skills Challenge:

• Berkmar High School
• Cherokee Bluff High School
• Chestatee High School
• Flowery Branch High School
• Floyd County College and Career Academy
• Gainesville High School
• Gilmer County High School
• R. W. Johnson High School
• Lanier College & Career Academy
• Lumpkin County High School
• Madison County High School
• Maxwell High School
• North Hall High School
• Roswell High School
• Stephens County High School
• West Hall High School

ACG CEO Mike Dunham (left) takes a break from the competition for a photo with State Senator Butch Miller of Gainesville (right). (Photo: ACG Georgia)

For five years, Carroll Daniel Construction of Gainesville has provided judges and other volunteers for the Skills Challenge in Hall County. (Photo: ACG Georgia)

The Roswell High School team was the overall winner in the Northeast Skills Challenge in Hall County, one of five district challenges in the state of Georgia. (Photo: ACG Georgia)

Welding was one of several areas of competition at last Thursday's Skills Challenge at Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center in Hall County. (Photo: ACG Georgia)

Students compete in the carpentry category of the Skills Challenge at Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center in Hall County. (Photo: ACG Georgia)

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