Six students from Thomas Edison High School of Technology took first place awards at the 31st Annual Maryland SkillsUSA Championships, allowing them to move on to the national competition.

The 40 Edison students who competed at the state level joined more than 600 other SkillsUSA competitors from across Maryland. They competed for medals, prizes, scholarships, state recognition, and the chance to continue on to national and international competition.

The Maryland SkillsUSA Championships are the showcase for the best career and technical students in the state. Championships begin locally and continue through the regional, state and national levels.

The championships reward students for excellence, involve industry in directly evaluating student performance, and focus training relevant to employers' needs.

First place winners, their skills areas, and the schools in which they are co-enrolled are:

· Amanda Osborne, Basic Health Care Skills, John F. Kennedy High School
· Elliott Sprehn, Computer Maintenance Technology, John L. Gildner-RICA
· Alice Johnson, Health Knowledge Bowl, Springbrook High School
· Saurabh Mahajan, Health Knowledge Bowl, Col. Zadok Magruder High School
· Adrienne Smith, Health Knowledge Bowl, Wheaton High School
· Lucy Weru, Health Knowledge Bowl, Montgomery Blair High School

Sonia Gulati (Paint Branch High School) took a second place in Basic Health Care Skills, and Amandeep Kaur (Springbrook High School) won second place in Nurse Assisting.

Third-place winners were Rachel Langton (James Hubert Blake High School), Basic Health Care Skills; Cristin Shultz (Paint Branch High School), Nail Care Technology; and Brenda Pereira (Montgomery Blair High School), Nurse Assisting.

First place winners in the Maryland Skills USA competition will travel to Kansas City, Missouri, the week of June 21 for the National Leadership and Skills Conference.