Congratulations to high school student Lily McKenzie Weber from Eastwood who recently placed first at the Texas SkillsUSA competition in Welding Sculpture. Held in Corpus Christi, this state championship was part of the annual SkillsUSA conference, where over 6000 talented career and technical education students competed in 100 different trade, technical, and leadership fields.

McKenzie had to demonstrate her welding and fabricating skills to create a showpiece that met the technical standards, size, and weight requirements. Not only did she need to create a physical sculpture, but she also had to complete a detailed notebook with pictures and an outlined description of how she fabricated it. The judges also interviewed her to test her knowledge and understanding of her sculpture.  McKenzie made history in El Paso, as she was the first student to ever medal in this contest. Her outstanding achievement of winning Gold is even more impressive, as only one other young lady from another district came close to placing top three.

The next competition will be the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference to be held in Atlanta, Georgia June 19-24, 2023.