At the Georgia SkillsUSA State Leadership & Skills Conference, Cambridge’s Skills teams and individual competitors took home 76 medals, 42 of which were gold.

The conference took place March 22 through March 24.

The school had 98 students competing in various competitions, including different types of speech-writing, hands-on demonstrations and broadcast and video-related competitions.

SkillsUSA advisor and Law and Justice teacher Thomas Washburn estimated that two-thirds of those 98 students competed in team events, while the rest completed individually.

Also, Cambridge junior Christine Lim was elected to be a state officer. The school has had a state officer every year since it opened a SkillsUSA chapter.

For the past three years, Cambridge has had the highest SkillsUSA medal count in the Georgia state competition. This year, they narrowly missed that distinction by three medals, but still had one of the top medal counts in the state, said Washburn.

Team members begin preparing for SkillsUSA competitions months in advance.

Sophomore Meaghan McAfee, a member of the gold-winning tactical team, said the team has been practicing since the beginning of the school year.

In the tactical team competition, a team of six students receives a crime scenario and have to neutralize it as if they were a SWAT team.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Lauren Bromelow

The tactical team in uniform, posing with their equipment.

Cambridge SkillsUSA President Luci Allen, who has competed on the CSI team for three years, also said her team has been practicing for months.

Working on their projects and skills for so long has helped members feel more comfortable when they compete.

Sophomore Morgan Young competed in the Law, Public Safety and Security Career Pathways Showcase. Young said it took time for her to get comfortable with her role in the competition, but that she was prepared when the state conference came around.

“I had been with the project since the beginning, so I really knew it inside and out,” said Young.

The teams that qualified for nationals will continue to practice and prepare through June, which is when nationals take place.

Washburn said the most difficult part of preparing for SkillsUSA competitions is getting members of the teams together to practice.

The members of SkillsUSA competition teams can get together and work on their skills during both days of PAWS throughout the year.

“We’re the biggest fans of PAWS in the building,” he said.

The tactical team is done practicing until next year, (as there’s no national competition for them), despite the team winning gold at state for the fourth consecutive year, said McAfee.

McAfee is a first-year member of SkillsUSA. She said she joined the club specifically to be on the tactical team, but some students aren’t able to secure a spot on their first choice of a Skills team.

Washburn said the school’s most sought-after teams are broadcast-related teams, CSI and tactical team. According to Washburn, 20 students tried out for the remaining three spots on the CSI team, and around 15 tried out for the six remaining spots on the tactical team at the start of the school year.

Cambridge’s SkillsUSA teams have been successful since the school opened, which Washburn attributes to the students’ efforts.

“We have kids that get involved,” he said. “Honestly, a lot of it is our leadership teams.”

Allen, a junior, said even though she is done competing in SkillsUSA, she is trying to stay involved to help get next year’s leaders ready to run the club.

“The club has actually helped me so much. I’ve gained so many friends and so many skills,” Allen said.

By having older, more experienced members help train and mentor younger, newer members, Washburn said, they can develop multi-year teams that can build their skills and do well in the competition.

“My goal was for my kids to be better than me,” Washburn said.

In his opinion, they are.