WGTC Students Excel at SkillsUSA Georgia Competition
Three WGTC students placed at the 2025 SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta. From left, Dawson Young (silver), Taylor Lowery (gold), and Conner Beck (bronze). Lowery will go on to represent WGTC and the State of Georgia at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta in June.
CARROLLTON, GA – West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) students joined other technical colleges from across the state to compete at the SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Conference held February 20-22 in Atlanta.
The following WGTC students earned gold, silver, and bronze medals, while the College was recognized with a Quality Chapter of Excellence Award for the second consecutive year.
- Taylor Lowery (Douglas County): Customer Service – Gold Medal
- Dawson Young (Coweta County): Electrical Construction Wiring – Silver Medal
- Conner Beck (Coweta County): Industrial Motor Controls – Bronze Medal
Lowery will advance to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held in Atlanta in June. This event features more than 6,500 state champions from across the United States competing head-to-head in 114 skilled and leadership competitions.
The annual SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Conference gives students from across the state a chance to showcase their technical expertise in more than 150 career competitions. Simultaneously, students sharpen their workplace and technical skills in leadership training, state officer elections, and more.
WGTC had 15 students compete in eight categories at this year’s conference. Listed are students, their events, and their county of residence.
- Customer Service – Rachel Bodner, Coweta; Taylor Lowery, Douglas
- Job Interview – Charles Greene, Douglas
- Electrical Construction Wiring – Dawson Young, Coweta
- Industrial Motor Controls – Conner Beck, Coweta
- Medical Terminology – Vashia Foster, Douglas; Ashland Linton, Carroll; Zachary Mann, Carroll; Miah Prothro, Carroll
- Welding Fabrication – Connor Adams, Heard; Lance Hill, Douglas; Jeffery Jimenez-Chona, Carroll
- Welding Sculpture – Scarlett Douglas, Carroll; Rachel Trull, Heflin, AL
- Welding – Joshua Ashton, Haralson
“WGTC students showed off their talent and dedication at the SkillsUSA state competition, proving once again that hard work and passion lead to success,” said Beverly Kirk, WGTC SkillsUSA Advisor and Dean of Arts and Sciences. “We are beyond proud of each competitor who represented our school with excellence.”
SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves more than 400,000 students and instructors annually. More than 1,000 business, industry and labor sponsors actively support SkillsUSA at the national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions, and involvement of their people in SkillsUSA activities. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor recognize SkillsUSA as a successful model of employer-driven workforce development.
For more information about WGTC’s SkillsUSA chapter, visit www.westgatech.edu/skills-usa.
West Georgia Technical College, with campuses in Carroll, Coweta, Douglas, Haralson, and Troup counties and class sites in Heard and Meriwether counties, offers more than 120 associate degree, diploma, and technical certificate programs of study. A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia, West Georgia Tech is one of the largest of the state’s 22 technical colleges. For more information, please visit www.westgatech.edu.
