LTHS Students Earn Accolades At SkillsUSA Nationals

LOCKPORT, IL — Lockport Township High School students competed at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in June, earning several accolades, the District shared in a news release.

The conference was held June 23-27 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Seven students represented LTHS on the national stage, demonstrating excellence in career and technical education and earning a national championship in engineering technology design, the District said.

Stephen Reuter, Samuel Drong and Gavin Leone earned the gold medal in engineering technology design, which is the top honor for this category.

LTHS' Duncan Kenney-Benson took home second place in the nation, showcasing his advanced drafting skills in the technical drafting category.

In addition to the student competitors, three LTHS/Illinois State SkillsUSA officers participated in national leadership training during the event, further representing the school and state with distinction, the District said.

LTHS Career and Technical Education instructor and SkillsUSA advisor Matt Mullins was also named the Regional SkillsUSA Advisor of the Year and was recognized as a finalist for the National Advisor of the Year Award.

Jeff Brown, former LTHS teacher and SkillsUSA advisor praised the team’s hard work.

"It showed their dedication and efforts, and was a great accomplishment for these seven students to qualify out of regionals, win at the state level and then compete against the other state champions at the national competition," Brown said. "They put in even more time in the two weeks, after the school year, to prepare for nationals, and it showed. To have four of the seven students medal (Gold & Silver) at the national level competition, and two others place ninth is amazing and very impressive! I am so proud of what they all accomplished and so impressed by the effort they put it in to accomplish what they did."

According to the District, this was the largest SkillsUSA national competition ever with over 18,000 students (state champions in their career competitions) from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Island competing.