North Thurston High School students competed at the SkillsUSA State Competition March 27-29, 2025, in Lakewood at the Clover Park Technical College. Rudy Larson took home first, David Perez took home second and Emma Wall took home the third-place medal in cabinetmaking.
SkillsUSA is a career and education organization for high school and technical school students. As a workforce development program, they help youth learn the skills and build the confidence they need to become leaders in their chosen industry. Over 413,000 students are a part of the organization.
The SkillsUSA website explains that: “Through the Framework, SkillsUSA students hone their hands-on skills against current industry standards in more than 130 occupational areas, from 3D Animation to Welding and nearly everything in between. At the same time, they develop the transformative career-readiness skills—teamwork, communication, professionalism, leadership and more—that fuel career and life success.”
“SkillsUSA is important because it allows students to compete at something they love doing and meet like-minded people in the process,” says Rudy Larson. “SkillsUSA has opened me up to a whole new community of people and participating in the competitions has been an absolute blast.”
North Thurston High School Offers SkillsUSA Activities Club
Matt Newton, drafting, woodworking and construction teacher at North Thurston Public High School, works with the students to help them with their goals and competition preparation. The activity club is held after school and meets two nights a week in the North Thurston High School shop. Most of the students are also in one of Matt’s classes, he shares. The club is fully supported by the North Thurston CTE and the ASB: students do not have to pay for any of the materials or tools used in the SkillsUSA club.
“The skills competitions for us this year started with a regional contest,” Matt shares. “The carpentry contest was held at New Market Skills Center in Tumwater. There, the students had to present a resume, take a construction knowledge test, and then had four hours to complete a building project that they had never seen before. This year it was framing two walls with a window and door opening.”
The top 5 students qualified for the State Competition at Clover Park Technical College. At regionals, Emma Wall placed second and Bryan Lopez place fifth in the carpentry division.
“The whole experience—from first seeing the plan to building and finishing before the given time is up, just felt so real almost like a free trial into carpentry and I enjoyed every second of it,” shares Emma Wall on what she loves about SkillsUSA competitions.
For cabinetmaking, the regional was held at Port Angeles High School. Students had to create a small chest with a sliding tray inside. Rudy Larson placed first and David Perez placed fourth.
“It was fun to compete against people who are really skilled and put what I know to the test,” shares David Perez. “I was glad I had Mr. Newton to prepare me and teach in order for me to succeed.”
The format for the SkillsUSA State Competition was the same as regionals, but with different projects, Matt says. For carpentry, the students had a steel stud wall and roof framing project. For cabinetmaking, they had to create a small cabinet with an adjustable shelf and laminated top. Rudy took home the gold, meaning he will now head to the 4-day national competition in Atlanta in June. “At nationals Rudy will have a more complex project but will be provided with more time to work on it,” shares Matt. “This is the first time that North Thurston will be sending a student to nationals in Cabinetmaking.” Matt will accompany Rudy to the nationals as his coach.
