BANGOR, Maine — Two students from the United Technologies Center in Bangor, traveled to Atlanta in June to compete in the national SkillsUSA competition.
“It was one day, eight hours. They gave us a prompt at the beginning of it and we had to model, texture, animate an animated short,” said Keegan Nilsson.
In front of a crowd of thousands and against difficult odds, Nilsson and Josh Gates won a gold medal for the 3D Visualization and Animation competition.
“They called our names… and I’m completely numb at this point. I’m like, shaking, and I don’t even know what to do,” Gates said.
Gates and Nilsson hope the gold medal proves their abilities and will open doors for them in the future.
“Since we have the skills to win something like that, we have pretty good potential to get into the industry and be able to do what we want to do,” Gates said.
Fresh from the victory, Gates will be heading to the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Nilsson to Champlain College in Vermont for Game Production, this Fall.