UVU finished third at the 54th Annual SkillsUSA National Championships held June 25-29 in Louisville, Kentucky. Showcasing their career and technical skills, seven UVU students came away as medalists in their competitions, including one national champion gold medalist. Those seven students who earned medals helped lead UVU to a third place finish in the nation. For 18 consecutive years, UVU has been ranked among the top five in the nation.
Impressively, 28 UVU students who competed in Louisville ultimately finished in the nation’s top-10 in their respective competitions.
“UVU is always trying to promote our CET programs,” said Darin Taylor, coordinator of UVU’s SkillsUSA. “We are constantly trying to let the community realize these programs are alive and well and ranked as some of the nation’s best. Our success in SkillsUSA is a stellar reminder of just how excellent these programs really are. These students showed up ready to compete. They were serious and focused on their individual contests, and as the results show, they were judged to be among the elite in the nation.”
Nearly 6,300 students from across the nation competed in over 100 different trade, technical and management fields. The UVU students competed in 21 of the categories. “To bring this into perspective, there were 34 states that did not earn as many post-secondary national medals as UVU did as a single institution,” said Taylor.
A list of the 2018 winners from UVU:
Gold Medal Winner (National Champion):
Automotive Refinishing Technology - Scotty George
Silver Medal Winners (2nd nationally):
Audio/Radio Production - Samuel Adams
Audio/Radio Production - Gage Freeman
Cabinetmaking - Andrew Dearing
Criminal Justice - Andrew Wright
Firefighting - Schylar Jones
Bronze Medal Winner (3rd nationally):
Collision Damage Appraisal & Total Loss Evaluation - Cayden Bailey
Other UVU Students in Top-10 Nationally:
4th place - Commercial Baking - Elena Linfesty
4th place - Engineering Technology Design - Alex Bowden, Tyler Larson, John Sadlier
4th place - Extemporaneous Speaking - Andrew Carling
4th place - First Aid/CPR - Emma Weatherhead
5th place - Crime Scene Investigation - Brooke Edgley, Chelsea Gipson, Alan Walker
5th place - Mechatronics - John Hawker, Taylor Johnson
5th place - Related Technical Math - Julie Hansen
6th place - Carpentry - Taylor Stout
6th place - Industrial Motor Control - Colby Christiansen
6th place - Robotics & Automation Technology - Miguel Ortinez, John Hawker
7th place - Collision Repair Technology - Bryan Magallanes
7th place - Medical Math - Abinidi Gray
7th place - Motorcycle Service Technology - Kaija Kalm
8th place - Restaurant Service - McKenzie Jorgensen
10th place - Job Interview - Haley Schurter