Continued from my last blog, it is time to compete in my skills USA competition. Most of the competition is a blur, and it was hard to gauge how I was doing, because the kid next to me didn't seem to know his ass from his elbow. A few stations I felt great about, and one station the an running it told me I was the only one to figure out the problem. I seemed to want to just get through it as fast as possible while I was out there, but after I handed my last sheet from my scan tool station, I didn't want it to be over because I was very unsure about how I did Once we got out of the competition area I got a chance to talk to the teacher I had for one and a half years at HCTC, he taught me a lot of what I put into the competition. I also got a chance to talk to one of my competitors, he really seemed to know his stuff. He really kind of made me nervous because we talked and had a lot of the same results in the competition with just a couple differences so I knew if one of us beat the other it would be close. At the award ceremonies I was announced towards the end, there was a lot of different competitions, the suspension built with every kid from my school that got called up to get a medal. Then once my section came up, the kid I had been talking to was announced for third, then another guy for second and I sat back in my seat, confident in the fact that I did not get first. Then, I was called up for winning the state competition, and the whole section I was sitting in went nuts. My teacher was more excited than I was, I went up on stage to get my medal, then went and got my scholarship packet and my tools for winning. All in all I went in hoping to get a medal, and walked out shocked to think that I was going to Kansas City for the national competition.