Georgia SkillsUSA State Competition Postponed Amidst Coronavirus Concerns

Due to concerns from the coronavirus, the SkillsUSA State Competition has been postponed, leaving many students unhappy and irritated.

They arrived at the convention held at the Georgia World Congress Center at 12:30 p.m. Thursday only to be told 10 minutes later that the event was cancelled.

SkillsUSA State Superintendent Richard Woods sent an announcement through the SkillsUSA conference app saying that he knows the hard work and dedication put forth by students “will help all of us weather this temporary storm and emerge stronger when this crisis inevitably clears.”

However, student reactions were far from optimistic.

According to sophomore Stephanie Navin, “A lot of people are very angry.”

Navin was going to participate in crime scene investigation. She’s been preparing for the competition since last August, practicing six hours a week with her team. They’ve worked about 24 hours together in the past two weeks.

“I was a little frustrated,” said sophomore Ava Gomez in regards to the postponement.

Gomez planned on competing in medical math.

“I taught myself a brand new subject,” she said.

Navin said no one knows why it was shut down so last minute and a new date is up in the air.