A trio of Coffee County Central High School students scored big recently at this year’s SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference.

Miranda Pita, Maggie Brie and Harper Jernigan won gold in the organization’s Career Pathways Showcase competition with a presentation of efforts they made to reduce vape usage at CCCHS.

“We wanted to do something that was affecting our personal community,” explained Pita. “To us, our community is our school. We’re in school five days a week for eight hours every day, and so we know that not only is vaping a really big issue in our school, but around the nation, it’s been growing.”

For the project, the three students created posters that were displayed at the high school as well as informative slide shows that were featured on the T.V. at CCCHS. A mass email was also sent out to all students about vaping.

A key component of the project was the implementation of drop boxes around the high school where students could dispose of their vaping devices with no consequences. Items like peppermints, knick knacks and fidget toys were also given out to take those students’ focus away from and replace their vaping devices.

The three presented their project at the conference with surprising results after winning second the last two years with a human trafficking project.

“I think we were honestly shocked,” recalled Brie. “Not even to sound cocky or anything, but we expected to place. The past two years, we’ve only gotten second, and so it was like okay we’re going to go up there, and then when we heard our names called for the first time for first it was like ‘Wow. Okay. We did it!”

Brie, Jernigan and Pita are all seniors this year and agreed that it was a good feeling to win gold for their last state project while also reassuring that they did something good for the community.

“Just knowing that we’ve done something to make an impact in our community really just makes you happy, and personally, I feel accomplished because of it,” said Pita. “Whether or not it works, we know we tried, and we know we want to make a difference and really that’s all it takes is wanting to make a difference and taking the initiative.”

In addition to being able to help their community, Jernigan says it’s been great to learn about issues that affect it while also having fun.

“It’s just been fun to be in, and it’s like I’ve learned a lot of new things especially with doing the human trafficking project the last two years I’ve learned that it’s a huge issue in our county,” she explained. “It’s fun to be here and get to reach out to our community still being students in high school.”

A sentiment shared by her fellow group members, Brie noted that competing with SkillsUSA has created lasting connections for the group.

“We’ve been competing with the same group since our sophomore year, and we still see them and still talk to them now,” she said. “Socially, it brings you to just talk to everybody and anybody. You go in there not knowing a single person and you come out with like with great friendships and overall, just a great experience.” “And you miss school for three days, so I mean it’s just a great experience overall and a great environment and you learn a lot out of it.”