The World Cup of Technical Skills

by London Dinh and Adam Bruns

In front of you could be 20 freshly baked cakes, to the left a plane engine, to the right a hair salon and behind you a fully operational excavator. That is the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC) in a nutshell.

Hosted by SkillsUSA every summer, it is the largest gathering of America’s future skilled workforce to focus on recognizing career and technical education. Almost every trade is featured: baking, masonry, drone piloting, plumbing, robotics — 114 technical skill areas in all. Thousands gather in Atlanta to compete, generating an economic impact of $34.9 million in the metro Atlanta area alone. It is also an occasion to measure the metric of workforce skill levels by state and by institution. Here are the top 10 states by medal count:

Among other corroborating evidence, North Carolina ranked No. 1 in the 2026 Workforce Development Rankings published by Site Selection in January. Five of the above states made those rankings’ top 10, based on a 13-point index that included last year’s SkillsUSA medal counts.

Medal winners this year hailed from 453 different institutions across the country. Here are the top 10 and ties by medal count, with Somerset County Academy for Health & Medical Sciences repeating at No. 1. (See the medal rankings of states and institutions last summer.):

Utah, which tied with Texas for No. 4 among states, was the only state with two institutions in the top 10. Which states had the most institutions earning a medal? Here are the top 10:

This year the week-long competition drew an estimated 19,000-plus attendees, 1,000 more than last year’s edition. Over 1,000 medals were awarded to skilled trade members in their respective categories. Among those categories is welding, a growing field seeing an increase in demand as a need for it emanates from such sectors as infrastructure, renewable energy, electric vehicle and aerospace manufacturing and industrial automation.

Shaping a Future
The American Welding Society reports a steady growth in projects with a low rate of professional welders, making it a lucrative opportunity for those with the skills. SkillsUSA hopes to bridge the demand-to-supply gap by incentivizing more to join the trade. At the conference there was advertising for free first-time welding classes along with a VR experience that allowed patrons to learn some techniques without the repercussions and dangers of active tools.

Virtual reality is used for welding training on the exhibition floor at SkillsUSA.

Photo courtesy of SkillsUSA

There were 18 medals presented in the welding fabrication category, which granted scholarship money, supplies and more to winners in the areas of industrial welds and craftsmanship with artistic pieces. One of the artistic competitors was Maria Sical, 18. Representing Providence Career and Technology Academy-Rhode Island, she’s already an accomplished welder, having been inspired to start welding by her father.

“Nothing really caught my eye as much as he did when he was welding,” she tells me. “So I decided to go into welding and try it out myself.” Her family continues to be a strong theme in her work, with many of her past pieces dedicated to her grandmother and father. Her featured piece for NLSC was dedicated to her sister and included themes from one of their favorite stories, “The Little Prince” by Antoine Saint-Exupery.

“We really relate with ‘The Little Prince,’ because it’s one of our favorite movies” she says. “I chose that to represent our relationship together because it has a deeper meaning to it.” There was a time constraint of only two weeks to conceptualize and execute the intricacies for the entire sculpture. While she did not medal in Atlanta, Sical was building on past success: At the Project MFG Student Maritime Welding Competition in April, Sical competed against 18 students from six schools in her region in a 2-hour welding and fabrication challenge, earning first place.

Maria Sical with her welded piece “The Little Prince.”

Photo courtesy of SkillsUSA

One of the top welders in the competition will be one of nine competitors who will compete as part of the WorldSkills USA team at the 48th WorldSkills Competition taking place Sept. 22–27, 2026, in Shanghai, China, where they will square off against competitors from 90 countries.

The American Welding Society (AWS) and SkillsUSA announced in April that Mikala Sposito, a 21-year-old student from Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, had been selected and was the first woman to represent the United States in welding at WorldSkills.

“Sposito secured her historic spot by winning the USA Weld Trials at the Robotics Technology Park in Huntsville, Alabama,” the Miami-based AWS explained. (That park and its welding affiliation with AWS were first chronicled by Site Selection in 2015.) “After three rigorous qualifying events, she placed first overall. Benjamin Cornaby of Utah State University Eastern took second, and CJ Parks of West Side Greers Ferry, Arkansas, placed third. The multi-stage process evaluated competitors on precision, safety, technical execution, craftsmanship and their ability to complete complex multi-process welding tasks under strict international standards and tight time constraints.”

Originally inspired by a welding demo at a Maker Faire when she was 10, Sposito won the 2024 SkillsUSA Michigan state championship and dedicated 60–80 hours per week over the past two years to training at Washtenaw Community College under instructor Alex Pazkowski, a former WorldSkills silver medalist, the AWS explained. She is the sixth WorldSkills qualifier from the college — more than any other U.S. institution.

Mikala Sposito will be the first woman to represent the United States in welding when she and eight teammates travel to compete at the 48th WorldSkills Competition taking place in Shanghai in September.

Photo courtesy of American Welding Society

Here is the rest of the WorldSkills USA roster with descriptions provided by SkillsUSA:

Automobile Technology: James Cahill (Missouri)— A skilled automotive student who has demonstrated mastery over complex mechanical diagnostics and vehicle systems.

Carpentry: Tristan Coates (Florida) — A business owner and former national champion who brings extensive structural and craft excellence to the team.

CNC Milling: Alexis Squyres (Pennsylvania) — A graduate of Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology and national bronze medalist, specializing in complex multi-axis precision machining.

Cooking: Elizabeth Brown (Missouri) — A culinary champion prepared to showcase world-class culinary technique, speed and artistic precision.

Heavy Vehicle Technology: Benjamin Strupp (Wisconsin) — An exceptional diesel technician specializing in heavy industrial machinery, diagnostics and large-scale transportation repair.

Mechatronics: Evan Chow and James Sutherland (Tennessee) — A powerhouse duo representing Tennessee in the intensive two-person industrial automation and robotic systems engineering competition.

Plumbing and Heating: Charles Goede (Connecticut)— A dedicated plumbing apprentice backed by broad industry support, mastering advanced fluid, pressure and climate systems.

“This extraordinary group of competitors represents the absolute pinnacle of American talent, dedication, and technical skill,” said Chelle Travis, executive director of SkillsUSA, during the NLSC in Atlanta. “To see them stand together as a unified team in front of more than 19,000 NLSC attendees was an incredibly proud moment for our entire organization. They aren’t just competing for medals in Shanghai; they are serving as global ambassadors for the vital role CTE plays in building a world-class workforce.”

The 2026 WorldSkills USA team includes (left to right) Mikala Sposito, Evan Chow, James Sutherland, Tristan Coates, Elizabeth Brown, James Cahill, Charles Goede, Benjamin Strupp and Alexis Squyres.

Photo courtesy of Skills

London Dinh, co-author of this story, reported on location from the SkillsUSA NLSC during her time as an intern with Site Selection this summer. She is a rising senior at Marist School in Atlanta.