Mat-Su students turn career skills into championship medals

What you need to know:

• SkillsUSA gives students opportunities to compete in career and technical events that build leadership, communication and workforce skills alongside hands-on training.
• Mat-Su students performed well at the statewide SkillsUSA competition in Anchorage, earning 17 gold medals and qualifying for the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference in Atlanta.
• Educators and students say SkillsUSA helps participants build confidence, connect with industry professionals and prepare for careers in trades, health care, technology and other high-demand fields.

• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

Interest in career and technical education is booming in the Mat-Su, where students are welding, drafting and even speaking their way into the workforce.

Cade Wolf is one of those students. The Wasilla High School junior recently won a state championship in extemporaneous speaking at the statewide SkillsUSA competition in Anchorage.

“It was really exciting. I was very glad to go up and receive the gold medal,” Wolf said while taking a break from a schedule that includes Advanced Placement classes, freelance photography work and volunteer projects.

Wolf’s state title — he also placed second in photography — qualified him for the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference, scheduled for June 1-5 in Atlanta. And he won’t be going alone. Wolf is one of eight Wasilla High students heading to the event, which bills itself as the “Olympics of Skills” and features 114 competitions ranging from ad design to welding.

Program adviser Robin Lockwood said the school’s success at state is the result of a concerted effort to recruit more students into the program over the past three years. The effort has worked. Last year, Wasilla sent about 20 students to the state meet; the year before, it sent fewer than 10.

“We have put so much energy into growing this program because we hear that the community needs workforce-ready individuals, and this is what we feel like, as advisers, we can do to contribute to our community.”

Students aren’t just perfecting their trades, Lockwood said. SkillsUSA focuses on career readiness and workplace preparation.

“There are personal skills, workplace skills and technical skills that we are trying to teach our students,” she said. “Under personal skills, that means do you have the professionalism and work ethic and integrity, responsibility, self-motivation and adaptability to meet the needs of whatever you are doing?”

Ashley Kelly, a CTE guidance counselor for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, said interest in both career education and the SkillsUSA program is “really growing.”

“We see the need in our community. They are looking for our students,” she said.

Kelly said the program’s broad range of skills attracts a wide spectrum of participants.

“SkillsUSA really can bring a lot of students to the table,” she said.

Mat-Su students won 17 gold medals in disciplines ranging from medicine to construction. All students who won gold qualified for the national conference.

The state competition allows students to demonstrate their readiness for their chosen professions, Lockwood said.

“It is basically the way that they get to connect with industry professionals at an industry-level competition to show off that they’re ready to join the workforce.”

Lockwood said she has seen tremendous changes in some of the students who have participated. One student, she said, went from barely speaking to assuming leadership positions.

“She is now serving her second year on the state student advisory board as secretary and talks to industry leaders all the time and puts together presentations where she stands up in front of 200 people,” she said. “And that is a two-year turnaround from the time that she started doing this.”

According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, the four-year graduation rate for students who concentrated on CTE was more than 97%. The national group also reported that more than 12,800 Alaska students participated in CTE during the 2023-24 school year.

Both Kelly and Lockwood agreed that programs like SkillsUSA help push students to and even beyond their limits, allowing them to see what career paths are available.

“It’s about getting them out of their comfort zone and launching them into their next steps — whether that’s trades, college or employment,” Kelly said.

At the state competition, Wolf said he had five minutes to prepare an impromptu speech before a panel of judges. The experience was “really nerve-wracking,” but he pulled through.

“It goes by fast when you’re up there,” said Wolf, whose topic was — fittingly — how to increase participation in SkillsUSA.

The three-day state event at King Tech High School brought together students from across Alaska and and proved enjoyable despite the tense competitions..

“You get to make friends and spend time with peers,” Wolf said. “The competitions are stressful, but outside of that it was a lot of fun.”

Lockwood and Wolf are raising money to help pay for the trip to Atlanta, where more than 6,700 state champions will gather inside the 1.79 million-square-foot Georgia World Congress Center. Both have active GoFundMe pages. As of Monday, Lockwood’s had raised $5,460 of its $19,500 goal, while Wolf’s had garnered $1,000 of his $1,700 goal. Wolf said if his effort raises more than what is needed to get him to Atlanta, he will use the remainder to help his teammates.

The national event gives students opportunities to win medals, earn scholarships and even land “job offers right off the competition floor,” according to the SkillsUSA website.

While watching one of her students win a gold medal at nationals would be a thrill, Lockwood said the most gratifying part of her participation in SkillsUSA has been seeing the growth in her students.

“They are people I would want to work on a team with by the time they have gone through a whole year of preparation for SkillsUSA competition.”

SkillsUSA state medalists

Colony High School

Gold: Dylan Hodgson and Colston Burlingame (digital cinema production); Paxson Trotter (welding sculpture); Alvaro Narino (technical drafting); Charlie Pitts (welding, state only).
Silver: Paxson Trotter (welding); Charlie Pitts (welding sculpture).
Bronze: Max Weinraub (technical drafting); Hudson Broeder (welding, state only); Dean Yeager (welding); Ashylnn Akers (welding sculpture).

Houston High School

Silver: Jordyn Bode (welding, state only).
Bronze: Blake Thomason (power equipment technology).

Mat-Su Borough at large

Gold: Hans Erickson (job skill demonstration open).
Bronze: Cayden Oswald (job skill demonstration open); Hans Erickson (marine service technology); Cayden Oswald and Trevor Babyak (promotional bulletin board).

Mat-Su Career and Technical High School

Gold: Ronin VanGorder, Nathan Pettiette, Dalton Nardini, Nathan Bultman and Alexander Tucker (quiz bowl); Ronin VanGorder (architectural drafting); Ronin VanGorder (related technical math); Alexander Tucker (technical drafting, first year).
Silver: Dalton Nardini (technical drafting).
Bronze: Nathan Pettiette (cabinetmaking); Dalton Nardini (related technical math).

Wasilla High School

Gold: Lorelai Lawton, Ariana Ramos and Leila Dutton (chapter display); Rebecca Hall, Zackary Kohler and Kaitlyn Severs (community service); Keagan Ramsey (electrical construction wiring); Piper Merrill, Tayla McKenzie-Cole, Olivia Fuller and Kamryn Petito (entrepreneurship); Cade Wolf (extemporaneous speaking); Rikki Mae Crum (first aid/CPR); Rikki Mae Crum (medical math); Rikki Mae Crum (medical terminology); Bella Winn (T-shirt design).

Silver: McKinley Altenberger (architectural drafting); Bridger Berta (carpentry); Leila Dutton, Jada Alstrom, Harlow Jacobson and Kaitlyn Severs (entrepreneurship); Harlow Jacobson (extemporaneous speaking); Jack Hughes (leadership in facility management); Alexandria Lethlean (medical math); Bella Winn (medical terminology); Cade Wolf (photography); Bella Winn (pin design); Chevy Rankin (prepared speech); Kamryn Petito, Olivia Fuller and Piper Merrill (promotional bulletin board); Brayden Vinson-Stith, Piper Merrill, Anya Quass-Lee, Leila Dutton, Cade Wolf, Kamryn Petito and Jack Hughes (quiz bowl); Rylee Crum (related technical math).

Bronze: Leona King (architectural drafting); Jack Hughes (carpentry); Logan Bradley (leadership in facility management); Caleb McElvain (first aid/CPR); Kimberly Jenson (medical math); Rebecca Hall (photography); Kamryn Petito (pin design); Zackary Kohler (prepared speech); Rylee Crum (T-shirt design).

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.