After taking home a bronze medal and multiple Top-10 finishes in the SkillsUSA National Competition in Louisville, Kentucky last summer, Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) has an entirely new team of collegiate specialists with their eyes on a championship.

“We’ve had really good showings on the state and national level of SkillsUSA over the years,” said GNTC SkillsUSA Coordinator Missy McClain. “The 2019 team really feels like it can perform just as well, if not better. We may be looking at a very successful competition season.”

Chattooga County, Georgia native Taylor Eagle placed third in the nation last summer at the National Leadership and Skills Conference, site of the SkillsUSA National Championship. Eagle competed in the Residential Systems and Installation Maintenance category.

In 2017, Cedartown, Georgia native Ryan Fincher became Georgia Northwestern’s first-ever national champion in SkillsUSA. Fincher took home top honors in the welding category. Just one week ago, Fincher competed in a national competition in Huntsville, Alabama that earned his spot as the SkillsUSA World Team Welder. The team will compete in the WorldSkills Competition taking place in Kazan, Russia the week of August 22. Fincher was also a two-time high school (Cedartown HS, GA) state champion in the same category.

Members qualifying for the Georgia Northwestern SkillsUSA team, which will be competing for national spots at the Georgia SkillsUSA Competition March 21-22 in Atlanta, Georgia, are as follows:

Teamworks (Construction) 

Jesse Flanagan – Polk County

Joel Paez – Whitfield County

Gabriel Lopez – Bartow County

Ryan Banks – Whitfield County

Welding Fabrication

Dakota Green – Gordon County

Luke Shehee – Catoosa County

Timothy Myers – Catoosa County

Welding

Jack Atwood III – Catoosa County

Automotive Service Technology

Brandon Neighbors – Catoosa County

Electrical Construction Wiring

Ethan Mitchell – Gordon County

Industrial Motor Controls

Norberto Castaneda – Floyd County

Practical Nursing

Brittany Square – Henry County

Kimberlee Hall – Gordon County

Kami Griswold – Bartow County

Medical Assisting

Ashley Hopper – Floyd County

Autumn Donaldson – Whitfield County

Internet of Things & Smart Home

Cole Allen – Chattooga County

Extemporaneous Speaking

Julianna Matthews – Lee County

Job Interview

Amy Waters – Chattooga County

Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration

Chris Roberson – Floyd County

CNC Milling Specialist

Joshua Wyatt – Chattooga County

Medical Terminology

Josh Barlow – Floyd County

Vanessa Colgrove – Chattooga County

Latrina Travis – Cobb County

Medical Math

Chelsea Price – Chattooga County

Jessica Fincher – Polk County

Kyara Massey – Floyd County

Jasmine Poindexter – Cobb County

For those who place high enough to qualify, they will earn spots on the Nationals SkillsUSA Team representing the state of Georgia. Now, in its 55th year, the SkillsUSA National Competition will once again take place in Louisville, Kentucky during the association’s National Leadership and Skills Conference, June 24-28.

Contestants on the state and national stage of SkillsUSA compete in more than 100 categories ranging from Advertising Design to Welding and everything in between. SkillsUSA is a national, nonprofit student organization that has developed more than 10 million workers through active partnerships between employers and educators across the nation.

For more information on Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s SkillsUSA organization, you can call 866-983-4682. For information online, visit the college at GNTC.edu, as well as on GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) and an equal opportunity institute.

GNTC offers more than 200 programs online and on-campus. Campuses are located in Ringgold (Catoosa County Campus), Rome (Floyd County Campus), Calhoun (Gordon County Campus), Rockmart (Polk County Campus), Rock Spring (Walker County Campus), and Dalton (Whitfield Murray Campus).