Taking home silver medals for the Welding Fabrication Team competition were Patrick Benavidez, Greyson Tagg and Joseph Rivera. Individual bronze medals went to Nathan Mendoza for Aviation Maintenance Technology and to Stephen Wiest for Welding Technology.

“All of our students performed extremely well at the competition and we’re very proud of all of them,” said Karen Grandinetti, enrollment strategist for the School of Applied Technologies. “They’re great performances are also a testament to the exceptional instruction they get at CNM from our faculty members.”

Other CNM students who competed at the national championships were: Jesse Beach, Eduardo Diaz, Christopher Gill, Jesse Hesch, Brandon Manning, Bryan Martin-Figueroa, Christian May, Etan Medlin, Jack Mossman, Ryan Olivas and Richard Stidham.

All 16 CNM students qualified for the national event by taking first place in their competitions during the state SkillsUSA competitions in April, which was held at CNM.

CNM has a long tradition of excelling at the national SkillsUSA Championships with medal-winning student performances. Not only do students receive top-notch instruction at CNM, but the college’s tuition rates for CTE programs are among the lowest in the country.

The national SkillsUSA Championships were attended by more than 16,000 people and provided more than 100 competitions to test students’ career technical and leadership skills in fields ranging from welding to dental assisting to 3-D animation. It also served as a highly valuable networking opportunity for students since industry representatives also use the event as a recruiting opportunity.

SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves technical, skilled and service occupational instructional programs in public high schools, career and technical centers and two- and four-year colleges.