55th NLSC was held in Louisville, Ky.
Matthew Carmody of Selma, a machining student at Johnston Community College, has won the gold medal at the 2019 SkillsUSA national competition.
Carmody competed against 21 other state champions in the two-day competition. In addition to the gold medal, he also received a Skill Point Proficiency Certificate in CNC Turning Specialist.
Another JCC machining student Joshua Murphy of Smithfield placed seventh in the nation in the technical drafting competition. Murphy competed against 24 other state champions in this three-day competition.
The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Louisville, Ky, took place June 24-28 as part of the 55th SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students.
During the week, more than 6,600 outstanding career and technical education students – all state contest winners – competed in over 100 different hands-on trade, technical and leadership fields. 501 North Carolinians from 19 community colleges, 41 high schools, 3 middle schools, and 1 university participated in the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.
“Matthew and Joshua are products of our Computer Integrated Machining Program at JCC,” said instructor Dwight Barnes. “Matthew is the second student to achieve the gold medal for JCC at the national event. He put in a lot of time in preparation for this event, which is what it takes to win at such a high level. I could not be more proud of Matthew for his accomplishment and where his training from JCC will take him.”
Carmody may be selected to compete at World Skills 2021 which will be held in Shanghai, China.
Meanwhile, Murphy is the first JCC student to compete in technical drafting at the national level.
“I commend Joshua on taking on the challenge and for paving the way for future champions in this event,” Barnes added. “To achieve seventh in the nation against other schools that have competed for over 20 years says a lot for his dedication to excellence.”
