Thirteen students at the University of Arkansas at Monticello College of Technology-Crossett (UAM-CTC) competed at the 2026 Arkansas SkillsUSA Conference from April 13 through April 16. Two UAM-CTC welding students and three UAM-CTC concurrently enrolled high school welding students from Crossett and Hamburg High Schools won medals.
UAM-CTC sent a delegation of five college welding students and nine high school concurrent welding students to compete at the Hot Springs Convention Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
In the college division for Pipe Welding, Conner Curry, from UAM-CTC, won silver, and Joseph Kyle Petrus, from UAM-CTC, won gold. In the high school division for Pipe Welding, Felipe Martinez, from Crossett High School, won silver. In the high school division for Sculpture, Hayden Seals, from Hamburg High School, won bronze, and Braydi Moffatt, from Hamburg High School and a first-year welding student, won gold.
UAM-CTC college competitors included Eli Chambers, Christopher Crisostomo, Conner Curry and Joseph Kyle Petrus.
Crossett High School competitors included Matthew Chace and Hayden Seals.
Hamburg High School competitors included Rafael Dominguez, Nathan Lemus, Felipe Martinez, Sebastian Martinez, Braydi Moffatt, Karson Mondragon and Will Patrick.
Donnie Dubose, welding technology instructor at UAM-CTC, praised his students, noting, “Just when I think the welders can’t get any better, they do. I am proud of their work and their effort and have enjoyed the opportunity to teach them and watch them prepare for competition. These welders are good; they were noticed by others, and I am proud of them.”
Students who earn gold medals at the Arkansas SkillsUSA Conference are eligible to compete at the NLSC in Atlanta, Georgia, from June 1 through June 5 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Moffatt plans to travel to Atlanta to represent Arkansas at the 2026 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC). Her sculpture, “The Beginning,” features multiple types of welding, as well as other techniques to enhance her sculpture, which is a rotating guitar with musical accents.
“We are so proud of our students who competed in Hot Springs,” Tracy Tucker, vice-chancellor of UAM-CTC, said. “They worked very hard to prepare for the contest and represented us well. The work of all of our pipe welding students was stellar and was noticed by many experts in the welding community at the contest. Braydi’s entry, along with the accompanying TikTok video showing each part of the process during production, is amazing. Hayden’s airplane shows remarkable craftsmanship, too. We are proud of all our students and look forward to Braydi bringing home a gold medal to Arkansas from the national competition.”
According to its website, SkillsUSA “is a national association dedicated to empowering high school, college and middle school students as they prepare for careers in trade, technical and skilled service fields, including health occupations.” The organization uses local and national conferences to give students the opportunity to develop their job skills and gain experience in the workforce.
UAM-CTC offers a certificate of proficiency in welding and a technical certificate in welding technology. To learn more about these programs, visit theUAM-CTC web pageor call 870-460-2004.
Article courtesy of the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
