SkillsUSA Championships winners announced, collision repair medalists from 12 states

The national SkillsUSA Championships wrapped up in Georgia Friday with high school and college winners in collision repair from 12 states.

The annual event was held in Atlanta on June 25-26, with over 6,800 students competing in 114 hands-on skill and leadership competitions. It was part of the 60th annual National Leadership & Skills Conference (NLSC), where more than 18,000 students, teachers, education leaders, and representatives from 850 national corporations, trade associations, businesses, and labor unions participated.

Collision repair competitions included Collision Repair Technology, Automotive Refinishing Technology, and Collision Damage Appraisal. Three high school students and three college students are named winners in each competition.

This year’s high school Collision Repair Technology winners are:

• • Elijah Stines from Unaka High School in Elizabethton, Tennessee (gold medal)
  • Landen Olsen from Nebo Advanced Learning Center in Salem, Utah (silver medal)
  • Nicolette Favreau from Montachusett Regional Vo-Tech in Fitchburg, Massachusetts (bronze medal)

Stines was a second-year gold winner in the competition. Last year, he told Repairer Driven News that after watching the state-level competition in 2023, he told his teacher, Scotty Johnson, “I’m going to be your first national champion.”

Stines said he took every opportunity to get there, whether that meant extra practice sessions at school or finishing online coursework for certifications, such as one through the 3M Collision Repair Academy.

“There’s many YouTube videos that I’ve watched hundreds of times,” he said. “My instructor gave me the most help. Any question I ever had, he answered.”

At the college level, the 2o25 Collision Repair Technology winners are:

• • Mario Saenz from Aims Community College-Windsor in Greeley, Colorado (gold)
  • Wyatt Leverenz from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, Wisconsin (silver)
  • Dylan Kozarzewski from College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois (bronze)

Aiden Hewett competed in Collision Repair Technology, which includes automotive welding and dent repair. He told The Red & Black that he loved the competition and meeting so many different people. The student-led news organization covers the University of Georgia and Athens.

“I think they’re definitely playing the element of having a stress test in there,” Hewett said in the article. “I think they’re trying to see how well you can keep your composure and manage a bunch of little things at one time, so it can get to your head pretty quick.

“It’s been kind of amazing to see how many students of like so many different ages are all here doing the exact same things whether it be, you know, quiz bowl or automotive stuff or whatever else. Everybody’s in the same position right now, so it’s just really cool to see that.”

In the Automotive Refinishing Technology competition, the high school winners are:

• • Alec Windsor from Vanguard-Sentinel CTC in Tiffin Ohio (gold)
  • Santo Farro from Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell, New Jersey (silver)
  • Mary Schirmer from Maregno Community High School in Marengo, Illinois (bronze)

The college winners are:

• • Aleah Sauder from Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois (gold)
  • Walker Coulter from Washburn Tech in Topeka, Kansas (silver)
  • Jeremy Radke from Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin (bronze)

The winners in the high school Collision Damage Appraisal competition are:

• • Brayden Elliot from Lex La-Ray Technical Center in Lexington, Missouri (gold)
  • Wyatt Donahue from Iredell-Statesville Career Academy & Tech School in Troutman, North Carolina (silver)
  • Kyle Ferguson from High School Academy at Metropolitan Community College (bronze)

Elliot’s school system, the Norborne Pirates, shared the following on its Facebook:

The Collision Damage Appraisal college winners are:

• • Cloud Kline from Aims Community College-Windsor in Greeley, Colorado (gold)
  • Emmalee Johnson from Northeast State Community College in Blountville, Tennessee (silver)
  • Benjamin Swanson from Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois (bronze)

SkillsUSA says 1,200 national medalists were named Friday, along with three top Models of Excellence schools, and a new team of national officers for next school year.

In a featured article on the College of Western Idaho’s website, PPG’s Jessica Crowley talks about what led her to collision repair and her experience competing in SkillsUSA. She helps run the spot repair portion of the Idaho competition and also helps with the national championships.

“There’s a huge skills gap,” she said in the article. “Our industry is aging, and if we don’t have support — from donors, from companies, from people willing to share what they know — we won’t have the workforce we need.

“We need community support. Without it, students miss out on opportunities, and our industry continues to shrink. The people who helped me along the way gave freely of their time and knowledge. Now it’s my turn.”

While she loved her two years at CWI, Crowley said SkillsUSA “changed my life in this industry, period.”

“It changed my trajectory, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without my involvement in SkillsUSA,” she said. “I competed my first year and took second. That lit a fire under me. I wanted gold.”

When she competed the next year, Crowley won gold in the state competition and bronze in the national competition. At the national competition, a representative from PPG handed her a business card.

“I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but that ended up being the beginning of my career,” she said.

The 2026 SkillsUSA NLSC will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, from May 31 to June 4.

Images

Featured image: A student competes during the 2025 SkillsUSA National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. (SkillsUSA Facebook)

(Front row) Collision repair technology competition high school winners Landen Olsen, Elijah Stines, and Nicolette Favreau. (Back row) College winners Wyatt Leverenz, Mario Saenz, and Dylan Kozarzewski. (Provided by Jason Bartanen)

(Front row) Automotive Refinishing Technology competition high school winners Santo Farro, Alec Windsor, and Mary Schirmer. (Back row) College winners Walker Coulter, Aleah Sauder, and Jeremy Radke. (Provided by Jessica Crowley)