Eight Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College students won national recognition at SkillsUSA national competitions in Louisville, Kentucky, on July 26 and at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Chicago on June 27. Those students won in competitions against thousands of America’s best and brightest college students competing in competitive events.

MGCCC winners at the PBL conference include Maddy Groue and Alyssa Miller, first place, Desktop Publishing; Tyler Johnson, second place, Desktop Publishing, and ninth place, Mobile Application Development; Cabrina Oliver and Joy Tyler, sixth place, Business Sustainability; and Alexis Bounds, seventh place, Business Law. These students competed against 1,600 students from across the nation in business-related events.

Thomas Koch won first place in Technical Computer Applications, and Wendell Thomas won 10^th place in Architectural Drafting at the SkillsUSA competitions. These students competed against more than 6,000 state winners in skills-related events.

The awards were part of a comprehensive national competitive events program that recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business, career-related and skills areas. For many students, the competitive events are the capstone activity of their academic careers.