Hamilton High School students competed at the SkillsUSA district-level competition at Watertown High School on December 11, 2024.
Hamilton was represented by sixteen students in nine different contests. Thirteen of those students brought home medals:
- Justin Krueger – Gold, CNC Milling
- Sarah Wagner – Gold, Advertising Design
- Bryce Rogers – Silver, Screen Printing
- Jacob Winter – Silver, Technical Drafting
- Zachary Francis – Silver, Cabinetmaking
- Zion Mitchell, Ben Mettler and Nathan Waltz – Silver, Team Engineering
- Ryan Schmidtke – Bronze, Cabinetmaking
- Vance Hoehnen – Bronze, Screen Printing
- Lukas King, Xander Patterson and Derek Zhang – Bronze, Team Engineering
“Being able to bring such a wide variety of skill sets to a SkillsUSA competition is amazing,” explains Hamilton High School Applied Engineering Technology (AET) Teacher Alan Mamerow. He says it highlights the variety of skills and course offerings within the school’s AET program. “Hamilton is not a one-trick pony when it comes to the skilled trades. We had students representing every single one of the tracks that our department offers. Then to bring home a record number of medals, it’s super cool to see. It makes teaching these students an absolute blast because we get to see them go out and do well while having fun,” Mamerow adds.
Mamerow says they have a good mix of returning members and students who are new to SkillsUSA. “To see this level of success early in the year gets me excited for state,” he adds. “The whole point behind SkillsUSA is to grow America’s skilled workforce and these students are really setting themselves up for success in the future.”
Hamilton students will spend the next several months preparing for the SkillsUSA state competition in spring, which will be held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. The national SkillsUSA competition will then be held in June.
SkillsUSA is an organization for students interested in pursuing careers or expanding their knowledge of skilled trades. Over 80 different contests are available in the state of Wisconsin. In its ninth year as a chapter, Hamilton’s team is advised by Applied Engineering and Technology teachers Alan Mamerow, Tom Schlueter, John Ziemer and Chad McLaughlin.