1 week Ago By West Central Tribune staff report
WILLMAR — Seven welding students from Ridgewater College's Willmar and Hutchinson campuses will compete in June at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, Georgia, after placing first in the state-level competitions in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud in March and April. SkillsUSA is a workforce development organization for students.
Ridgewater students from three technical programs — welding, automotive service technology and auto body collision repair — took part in the Minnesota competitions, which saw more than 550 students from 25 schools compete in 57 trade, technical, and leadership contests in hands-on, real-world environments, according to a news release from the college. Ridgewater individual welding state champions included Aydyn Zabel, of Waconia, in the general welding skills competition, and Bradee Dwinell, also of Waconia, for his welded wildlife sculpture. In the fabrication competition, the challenge was to create a welding table.
“The fabrication teams had very tough competition compared to years past, but worked very well together, finished with ample time to spare and had the best projects,” said John Travis, Ridgewater welding instructor. First-place college-level fabrication team members included Dwinell; Katheryne Noll, of Norwood Young America; and Justin Deinken, of Morton. First-place high school division fabrication team members included Braxton Londerville, of Cokato; Benny Blessing, of Norwood Young America; and Phillip Ahlgren, of Darwin.
High school students taking courses via Post-Secondary Enrollment Options compete in the high school division. “It’s a very proud moment for the Ridgewater welding instructors as they nearly sweep the podium in three different categories,” said Jason Eastling, one of Ridgewater’s welding instructors. “It shows that hard work and dedication pay off in the end.
” Medal winners in top 3 College individual welders: Jackson Owens, of Spicer, 2; Joseph Kotila, of Litchfield, 3 High school individual welders: Hudson Nelson, of Buffalo Lake, 3 Auto body collision repair, refinishing — college: Peyton Smith, of Montevideo, 2 Auto body collision repair, refinishing — high school: Steven Wagner, of Alexandria, 2 Automotive service technology — college: Max Kenney, of Buffalo Lake, 2; JT Karels, of Howard Lake, 3 Automotive service technology — high school: Dawson Blair, of Starbuck, 2 To learn more about the Ridgewater Welding program, go to www.ridgewater.edu/welding.
To learn more about Ridgewater automotive careers, go to www.ridgewater.edu/automotive-technology.
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