Members of the SkillsUSA student organization at Central Georgia Technical College recently brought home their first gold medal in the Chapter Display category of the SkillsUSA Nationals competition.

Thomas Butler, Alison Crumb, and QaNeshia Mays earned gold by building a three-dimensional display that articulates the annual theme for the organization’s national competition, “Champions at Work, Job Ready Day One,” held in Louisville, Ky.

The team built an intricate, rotating, octagonal, three-dimensional model with two computer monitors.  Each monitor played a video that members produced to promote SkillsUSA. Essentially, the project was a promotional set-up, a kiosk of rotating information.

Each student presented about the display during an interview in front of a panel of judges, and that’s where, Butler, a SkillsUSA member of only one semester, said he believes the judges came away impressed.

 “It was a combination of the three-dimensional printing, a series of LED lights that changed colors, and the motion,” he said of what he felt the judges were most impressed.

The students worked on the display for about six weeks leading up to the national event.

Outside of winning the gold, students also participated in seminars about different industries; and on the last night, heard a talk from, Mike Rowe, the former host of the Discovery Channel series, Dirty Jobs, and advocate of technical education.