Junior, Sage Owings won the individual SKILLSUSA state champion welder for the second year in a row. The Chattooga team consisting of Bayln Stephens (senior), Rhett Rosson (junior), William Elrod, and Gavin Jarrett (sophomores) claimed the SKILLSUSA State Champion Weld Fab Team honors.
This is only the second time in state history that the same school has claimed the individual and team welding championship in the same year, the other time was in 2018, and the school was Chattooga.
2018 SKILLSUSA Georgia State Champion Individual Welding–Chase Dotson-Chattooga
2019 SKILLSUSA Georgia State Champion Individual Welding–Sage Owings-Chattooga
2020 SKILLSUSA Georgia State Champion Individual Welding–Sage Owings-Chattooga
Competitions were started in Atlanta’s World Congress Center on March 12th and then finished with on-line testing around the state while students were quarantined. Though these students have qualified to advance to Nationals, this year’s national competition has been cancelled.
“It’s good to win, but it feels much different because I didn’t get to use my skills and because there’s no nationals this year… I was very ready to win state and nationals this year but it’s still good to get a win in some form,” Sage told AllOnGeorgia.
Watch AllOnGeorgia’s video from Sage’s first state championship last year:
Sage Owings: Community Spotlight on the Welding State Champion
Brought to you by Jim Aaron's Summerville McDonald's, Sage Owings is Chattooga High School's 2nd consecutive individual Welding State Champion through the Skills USA program. The 15 year old sophomore was part of last year's team champs and is looking forward to the National Championship!
Posted by All On Georgia – Chattooga on Friday, April 19, 2019
“I wanted to win nationals this year and compete to go to the international competition and the competitor gets a $40,000 scholarship wherever I want but I want to find a job right out of high school where I can work somewhere crazy and make a lot of money,” Sage said of his future plans.
SkillsUSA is a national, nonprofit student organization that has developed more than 10 million workers through active partnerships between employers and educators. Hundreds of American industries have turned to SkillsUSA as the source for employees who exemplify “Champions at Work” in both skills and attitudes.
CTAE Prepares Students for Real Jobs
Chattooga High School is focused on providing high school students with support in Architecture, Construction, Arts, Audio/Visual Technology, Communication, Human Services, Transportation, Distribution and Logistics, Health Science and Manufacturing. CTAE includes career pathways, college credit, work-based learning and student organizations.
Welding is one of 14 different career pathways offered by Chattooga High School.