Florida is hosting their SkillsUSA state competitions in April, the competitions will last a little less than a week. The competition will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Jacksonville. 

Opening Ceremony will be starting on Monday, April 10th at 7pm at the Florida Historical Theater in downtown Jacksonville. The opening Ceremony starts every year off with special recognitions and awards, speakers, and any last-minute changes to contest schedules or information. Some of the awards that will be handed out are ‘Advisor of the Year,’ ‘Cornerstone Award,’ ‘Distinguished Service Award,’ ‘Pillars of Success Award,’ and many more. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday, April 11th & 12th, there be competitions going on, but only some competitions like esthetics are competing on both days. For those not competing, there will be an event called Connected Expo and Trade Show from 8am-3pm. During this time students can meet and talk to business partners, they can also get on-the-spot job interviews. This will allow them to meet with potential future employers, participate in hands-on demonstrations, and meet with local, state, and national business partners. 

On Wednesday, April 12, from 6pm-10pm, The SkillsUSA students and teachers are invited to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments for this year Called Champions Night. It will be held at the Hyatt hotel on the river decks and Coastline Drive. For the students and advisors this is a time just to relax, meet new friends, and celebrate everyone’s successes! There will be food trucks, music, dancing, Giant Jenga, a photo booth, and other activities. 

Closing Ceremony will be on Thursday, April 13th. They will announce the winners in each category. The medalists will then proceed to go to the stage area. Once all the winners are present, the medalists will be escorted onstage and are awarded their medals. Next, they will take a photo with their contest group and receive any prizes, if there are any in their competitions. The gold medalists will then be given a chance to go to the Nationals competitions. Only the gold medalists can go to nationals, the only other way is either first place steps down and the invite goes to second place or volunteer through Courtesy corp. 

Our school has a total of 22 students who are competing and one student that is doing courtesy corp. The completers are: 

Automotive: 

• Brently Miller, Automotive Refinishing Technology. 

Cosmetology: 

• Jasmine Foster, Esthetics, and her model, Alexleslie Guzman; 
• Milo Hale, Esthetics and her model, Morgan Shortridge; 
• Carsyn Howes, Cosmetology; 
• Princess Williams, Nails and her model, Clara Dimunah; 

• Analisa Hill, Hair Weaving; 
• Renee Dozier, Hair Weaving; 
• Lazariah Rey-Jenkins, Hair Weaving. 

Communications: 

• Ciara Sastre & Kory Knight, Television Production; 

• Lancelot Quashie, Advertising and Design; 
• Allison Viola, Photography; 
• Jerro Madriaga, T-shirt design. 

Culinary: 

• Jazmyne Long, Culinary Arts; 

• Amanda Reyna, Culinary Quiz Bowl; 
• Antwone Mathis, Culinary Quiz Bowl. 

Robotics: 

• Alex Trudeau, Urban Search and Rescue; 
• Jade Scott, Urban Search and Rescue. 

Leadership: 

• Tyler Bryant, Prepared Speech. 

Courtesy Corp: 

• Anastasia Fekete.