Three CET students won national championship gold medals at the 55th Annual SkillsUSA National Championships held June 25-28 in Louisville, Kentucky. These CET national champions helped lead UVU to a second place finish for all colleges and universities in the United States. This marks 19 consecutive years that UVU has finished in the top-5 in the nation.
Overall, 18 CET students competed in 14 different categories and won medals in four of those competitions. Along with two gold medals, CET students also brought home a 2nd place silver medal and a 3rd place bronze medal. Perhaps even more impressively, 15 of the 18 CET students who competed in Louisville finished in the top-10 nationally.
Gold medalist Isaac Zamudio, a Sophomore from Provo who won gold competing in Robotics & Automation Technology, was thrilled to be on the medal stand. “This is the greatest thing that’s happened since I’ve been at UVU”, exclaimed Zamudio. “To put on my resume that I’m a national champion after only three semesters should hopefully open a ton of doors for me when it comes time to look for a job.”
After the week-long national competition was over, UVU students picked up medals in nine different competitions (5 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze). To bring this into perspective, there were 39 states in the nation that did not earn as many postsecondary national medals as UVU did as a single institution.
“Year after year our students are proving that they are as good as, and arguably better than, any in Utah at applying their trades and skills under the pressure of real-job situations,” said Darin Taylor, UVU SkillsUSA director. “This speaks volumes about the quality of students, faculty and programs we have here at UVU and especially at CET. I could not be prouder to be associated with such a fine group of students.”
Pictures from the competition are available online.
A list of CET’s 2019 winners:
Gold Medal Winners (National Champions):
Collision Damage Appraisal - Cayden Bailey - Dept of Technology Management
Robotics & Automation Technology - Taylor Hart, Isaac Zamudio - Dept of Engineering Technology
Silver Medal Winners (2nd nationally):
Audio/Radio Production - Griffin Hall, Brady Jones - Digital Media Department
Bronze Medal Winner (3rd nationally):
Industrial Motor Control - Josh DeGering - Dept of Engineering Technology
Other CET Students in Top-10 Nationally:
4th place - Culinary Arts - Erin Jones - Culinary Arts Institute
5th place - Mechatronics - Justin Hellewell, Jordan Whitaker - Dept of Engineering Technology
6th place - Automotive Refinishing Technology - Braden Clarke - Dept of Transportation Technologies
6th place - Related Technical Math - Bryce Boyer - Dept of Architecture & Engineering Design
7th place - Commercial Baking - Shelby Thorpe - Culinary Arts Institute
7th place - Technical Computer Applications - Robert Jones - Information Systems Technology
9th place - Diesel Equipment Technology - Spencer Call - Dept of Transportation Technologies
10th place - Power Equipment Technology - Cameron Lawson- Dept of Transportation Technologies