SkillsUSA Refinish gold medalist has humble mantra: ‘I’m just going to continue learning’
Emma Uhler, 20, is this year’s SkillsUSA Automotive Refinishing Technology college/postsecondary gold medalist, one of three female winners for the second time in recent years.
SkillsUSA’s National Leadership & Skills Conference (NLSC) is the largest annual gathering of America’s future skilled workforce, bringing together more than 19,000 attendees, including middle school, high school, and college/postsecondary students, teachers, school administrators, and business partners, according to a SkillsUSA press release.
As the No. 1 workforce development organization for students, SkillsUSA celebrates the achievements of America’s top career and technical education (CTE) students and highlights the critical role of career-ready skills to address the nation’s workforce development challenges.
Isabella Roll, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, took home silver, and Zoe Hunt, of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, bronze at the college/post-secondary level.
At the high school level, the medalists were: Nick Patalinghug of Bakersfield, California; Miguel De La Paz of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Drew Faeth of Tiffin, Ohio.
Collision repair students also compete in SkillsUSA’s Collision Repair Technology (CRT) competitions.
The medalists are:
A May 2026 graduate, new SkillsUSA gold medalist Uhler now works at a collision center in Lincoln, Nebraska, after earning her two-year associate degree at Southeast Community College – Milford.
“It was a really good experience,” Uhler said, of this year’s nationals. “It’s just crazy to sit in a room and be like, ‘Oh, that guy sitting next to me is from Arkansas, and the guy on my right’s from Oklahoma;’ just to get to meet these people from all over and hear how they got into these industries and how their journey has gone.
“The competition itself, it was really well-organized and run really well. The judges and the people who were there to help make sure everything was going [well], seemed really nice. It was like they just wanted you to have a good time while you were there — to learn and not be stressed and just go show your stuff.”
This year wasn’t Uhler’s first time competing in the SkillsUSA competition. She competed in 2025 as well, placing at the state level, and had reached regionals in 2024. This year she made her first trip to Atlanta, Georgia, where nationals were held.
“Being able to be there at this big convention center with thousands of other kids and SkillsUSA and everyone’s in these skilled trades — it was just really neat to see,” Uhler said. “I’d be competing myself, and I’m looking around at all these other competitors, and it’s like, ‘Wow, these kids know what they’re doing.’ Winning, I was not expecting it. I’m so thankful for it. I did work hard. I put in a lot of hours studying and preparing, and it paid off.”
She added that she’s already reached out to the other two women that placed second and third at the college/postsecondary level.
“I’ve made some other valuable contacts and am getting to do a little bit of networking with some industry partners, and that’s been really good too,” Uhler said.
And she’s not a stranger to the automotive world. Her Dad has been a mechanic for several years, and her sister, Autumn Harvey, is one too. Harvey was this year’s only female Automotive Service Technology (ART) high school medalist.
“She actually went to [SkillsUSA] nationals with me and placed second in Automotive Service Technology,” Uhler said. “That was pretty awesome. I come from a family of mechanics, and we’re always working on cars. For me, though, I’m like, ‘Well, I like working on cars, but I don’t want to be a mechanic like my Dad and my sister because they already do it. They have it under control. And if I try to do it, then I’d always be trying to compete with them, and that’s not what I want, so I picked something that’s complementary.’ There’s some overlap between our fields.
“There’s some systems that we both work on; if I have questions about it, we can work together on it. But having the ability to specialize in some of the different things, like being able to do the paint work or the body work and stuff that the mechanic doesn’t do, is just to appreciate the other aspects of the vehicle. …We’ve dabbled with some restoration work, and so doing the body work is something I was like, ‘You know what? There’s a gap there, and I think I could do it and enjoy it.’ And I’m glad I picked it because it’s been good.”
Uhler graduated with an associate’s degree and started her career the next Monday.
“I had reached out and I had gotten that job lined up back in March,” she said. “They’ve been really good to me here. There’s a lot that I have to learn, and they’re willing to help me, so that’s important.”
In school, Uhler said she and her fellow students were in the lab 80-90% of the time, depending on the time of year, paired with in-class instruction.
“Everything’s on site,” she said. “We function like a body shop. We get customer cars, we work on live work, which is awesome. A lot of programs don’t get that luxury, but we get to use live customer vehicles and repair them like you would at any other facility.
“Something they just introduced this year that my class went through as the first kids to do it was an eight-week cooperative program. For first eight weeks of your third semester, you go out, find a shop, and work there. You’re checking in with your instructor every week, and they’re keeping in contact with your employer just to get some experience out in a live work environment. I think it worked out really well for us. I think it’s something they’re going to continue to do.”
Uhler has a well-rounded approach to her career moving forward, noting that she doesn’t have a favorite aspect of working in the industry. Instead, she said she enjoys it all.
“I appreciate the whole process in general from start to finish,” Uhler said.
But as she worked more as a painter she found her niche, calling it “pretty cool.”
“That doesn’t mean that I think I’m never going to be a body tech,” Uhler said. “I’m looking to learn everything, figure out where I fit best and what I excel at, and you know what? Maybe it’s body work, but I mean after SkillsUSA, maybe it’s paint, so I’m just going to continue learning. I don’t want to shut myself off from any of the other categories quite yet.
“If the body guys need help, and whoever helps body guys, if the R&I guys are busy taking things apart and we got to get some more work, more things disassembled so our body guys can start, I’ll help out over there. I’ve gotten to help a little bit with the production management side of things, making sure everyone’s getting the hours they need and passing out the papers that they need. I’ve spent a couple of weeks working in our paint department helping prep panels and masking for our painters. I’ve been all over the shop and I enjoy it. I get to meet all these people and see just how all the pieces are interrelated in this industry.
“You’re seeing how everything works together and appreciating all the different aspects. I feel like it makes me a better team member, and so when I do ultimately specialize, I know how to work with everyone else.”
Jessica Crowley, SkillsUSA Automotive Refinish co-chair, was especially excited that this year’s slate of college/postsecondary all-female medalists isn’t the first time that’s happened.
“Three years ago we had all of the high school medalists,” she said. “That’s not a new thing, but it is a cool thing.”
SkillsUSA history made: All-female high school refinishing winners
“Zoe, from the College of North Idaho, I got to see her during the regional competition, and then I run spot repair for the state of Idaho, so I got to see her compete for the state of Idaho and then move on to nationals and take bronze at nationals,” Crowley said.
“Drew from Vanguard out of Tiffin, Ohio, …is a true freshman, so I believe he is 14 years old, and he took bronze this year. I have to believe that he’s going to just continue to come back and medal. He has three more years in high school to do well, so that’s pretty cool. Nick is out of Bakersfield, California. I know in my 13 years, I haven’t seen any medalist from California, so it’s cool to see a gold place winner out of Bakersfield, California.”
She also noted that Vanguard students are almost always on the podium at nationals year after year.
Jason Bartanen, SkillsUSA CRT Committee technology chair, said this year’s SkillsUSA Nationals were “awesome as always.”
“It’s such an incredible event, and we’ve got such a great crew and great kids that were competing,” he said.
He noted that CRT students are coming into their own, becoming more comfortable and confident when competing.
“We’ve continued to use OEM information with some All Data tablets there,” Bartanen said. “They’re getting better at that as well. MIG brazing was better. The schools are preparing the students appropriately, so that’s really the only thing that was different this year; a little bit better performance based on the education they’re getting now.”
Gold medalist Nunzio Terranova (Missouri) with bronze medalist Adam Miller (North Carolina).
Gold medalist Autumn Harvey (Idaho) stands with silver medalist Kaden Dykes (Colorado) and bronze medalist Preston Vandenberg (Wisconsin).
As for Uhler, Bartanen said she “honestly knocked the socks off of everybody.”
“We’ve had some close competitions over the years, but she was head and shoulders above the next scores in second, third, and fourth place, which were all very tight,” he said. “It came down to the SkillsUSA professional development test that they now administer. It used to be a tie-breaking test, but it’s now used as part of the overall score, and then it is the tie-breaking criteria. We had a flip-flop in places. We had somebody that wasn’t a medalist that ended up being a medalist because of that, so it kind of goes to show, I think, the importance of that part of it.”
He added that the skills and knowledge students come equipped with to compete is critical, and more important than ever.
“I think it’s awesome too that we’re getting more young ladies into the industry, and they’ve been performing quite well,” he said. “Autumn is now our second national Collision Repair Technology female champion.
“Refinishing, they’ve had several more [female competitors] over the years. …I counted there were 12 or 13 on the refinishing side this year, and we were at three or four. We don’t usually get as many as refinishing does, but now that we’re seeing them do well consistently, hopefully that will get more of them involved… They’re doing a great job. I think it’s encouraging to see some fresh faces in there and get some more women involved in the industry and in the competition.”
Images
Featured image and all images of Emma Uhler provided by Uhler
Collision Repair Technology student photos provided by Jason Bartanen