On April 7th and 8th, Sussex Hamilton High School SkillsUSA members attended and competed at the annual SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference (SLSC). Hamilton was represented by a record thirty-one students in seventeen different contests including advertising design, cabinetmaking, carpentry, CNC machining, photography, Teamworks (a 4-person construction contest), welding, and more. The following students received medals:

Justin Krueger – Bronze, Related Technical Math

Summer Callister – Bronze, Advertising Design

Ezri Schulze – Silver, Advertising Design

Sarah Wagner – Silver, T-shirt Design

John DeByl, Bennet Hora, and Justin Krueger – Silver, Automated Manufacturing Technology

Kaden Knauer and James Konkol – Silver, Mechatronics

Bryce Rogers – Gold, Screen Printing

Abhi Nalla and Aidan Rea – Gold, Mechatronics

Ryan Schmidtke – Gold, Cabinetmaking

Gold medalists receive an automatic invite to the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia during the first week of June. All of Hamitlon’s first place winners are planning to attend.

Detailed scores for all contests will be available online within the next week, allowing all students to see where they placed in their contest, and how they scored on individual sections, allowing competitors to start thinking about next year and what they need to focus on as they continue to grow their skills in both Applied Engineering classes and after school.

With only nine of our state competitors graduating, Hamilton is poised to see continued success in future years. Seven of Hamilton’s medalists will be returning to build upon their current success and help advisors train the next generation of competitors. Graphic Arts instructor and advisor Tom Schlueter noted that “Sarah Wagner and Ezri Schulze played a vital role in supporting Summer Callister’s preparation for the Advertising Design competition. As experienced competitors who have both seen success in the event with Sarah winning at the district level and Ezri at state, they worked alongside Summer to share their expertise and help her navigate contest requirements and expectations leading up to state”.

Hamilton’s SkillsUSA chapter saw twenty-three new members this year. “We had more new members this year than we have ever had total members at state in previous years”, said advisor Alan Mamerow. “It is super exciting to see underclassmen get involved in SkillsUSA, because this is something that often takes at least a year to really develop the skills that are needed at the state level, plus the first trip to state can be a little nerve-wracking, so when students can come back for a second year or more and just have a better understanding of what they are going to have to do, they’re already in a much better place than that first year, and then by their senior year they are working with our newer students and continuing to build the program. A few of our new members this year were seniors, including two-thirds of our silver medalist 3-person Automated Manufacturing CNC machining team, but we had a lot of new juniors join SkillsUSA, and even more sophomores and freshman. Getting students interested in the skilled trades and going to competitions like this early in their high school career is huge, because it allows us to have time to work with them for two or three years and see them in more of our classes. Two years ago we had an awesome Teamworks construction team that took second place, but they were all seniors and we are now in a rebuilding phase with that contest, so it’s good to see the underclassmen getting involved. Every year up until now we have had only seniors compete in welding, and this year we had a freshman who is taking our first level welding class and has welded outside of school and while she didn’t podium, I hardly ever see freshmen TIG welding let alone producing stainless steel welds as well as she did, and I am super excited that she gets to keep building those skills for the next three years.”

Returning students also saw success, with Ezri Schulze and Bryce Rogers returning to the podium for the second straight year, and Justin Krueger, Sarah Wagner, and Ryan Schmidtke finding their way to the podium for the first time after competing at state in previous years.

Hamilton’s success is a testament to what the Applied Engineering Program as a whole is providing students. The Graphic Arts program is constantly working on designs and printing for posters and banners and shirt jobs, the Woodworking program has taken on projects for classrooms and other teachers, and the Construction program has built sheds for the district and doghouses for the NARI homeshow. “Students are recognizing and taking advantage of the opportunities available to them at Hamilton, and their dedication to increase their skills and abilities shows”, noted Mamerow.

SkillsUSA is an organization for students interested in pursuing careers or expanding their knowledge in skilled trades. Over 80 different contests are available in the state of Wisconsin. In its tenth year as a chapter, Hamilton’s team is advised by Applied Engineering and Technology teachers Alan Mamerow, Tom Schlueter, and John Ziemer.