‘Olympics for trades’: Illinois students flood Atlanta for national skills competition

After winning gold at the state finals, Cole Krueger is hoping he can replicate that success at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta this week.

“It’s going to be a bigger scale, so a top 10 finish would be awesome,” said the recent Willowbrook High School graduate from Villa Park. “I’m really just kind of curious to see how I can do.”

Krueger is among dozens of suburban high school and college students attending the national competition that showcases excellence in trades education and other practical arts. He is competing in automotive maintenance and light repair, one of 114 skilled and leadership challenges featuring more than 6,500 contenders from across the country.

“Yes, it’s like the Olympics for trades education. It’s like that but also for so much more too,” said Christopher Dunk, Krueger’s adviser and the automotive technology instructor at Willowbrook. “At the national competition, it’s even bigger.”

Competitions run the gamut from skilled labor challenges such as automotive services, carpentry, roofing and electrical wiring, to other programs such as culinary arts, crime scene forensics, entrepreneurship, nursing assistance and even T-shirt design.

Beside Krueger, suburban competitors include high school students from York and Addison Trail as well as students from College of Lake County, Lake County Tech and Waubonsee Community College.

“We took third place last year at nationals in crime scene investigation, but we’re going for gold this year,” said Heidi Salamone, a police officer at CLC and adviser to the criminal justice club. “My team is amazing.”

This year also is Sam Soulari’s second trip to nationals. After competing in culinary arts in 2024 and placing fourth, the Buffalo Grove resident moved over to the baking and pastries competition this year and won gold at state, earning an automatic bid to nationals.

“This was easier for me than culinary arts because I have more practice at this and I’m more enthusiastic,” he said.

Soulari has to bake a cookie, cream puff, decorate a cake and make a pie as part of the competition. He’ll be judged on how clean he is during the prep work and how he manages his time as well as the tastiness and aesthetics of the baked goods.

“There’s really so much going on with each competition, it’s not just about the final product but in many instances how they got to that result,” said Andy Clements, an assistant professor of business at Waubonsee who is advising a team of four students competing in the entrepreneurship challenge. “I’m grateful that Waubonsee is willing to support this program.”

Russell Abner, along with teammates Mitchell Hiltenbrand, James Lemos and Connor McMenamin, make up Waubonsee’s entrepreneurship squad. Abner said the team used critiques from judges at state to refine their presentation for nationals.

“It was neat to see all these people come together and advise us with our presentation,” Abner said.

The competition is kind of a “Shark Tank-style” business presentation to a judging panel. In this case, the Waubonsee team is creating a vending machine with healthier options that utilizes freeze-dried technology. Abner said the idea was hatched from a machine at the college that dispenses hot coffee and hot chocolate.

“We’re bringing some containers and different products to show them what we envision,” he added.

Many of the advisers who escort their students to the national competition say the contests often are more nerve-wracking for them because they can’t do anything but watch at this point.

“Illinois is very competitive in many competitions because we have a lot of excellent programs throughout the state,” said Keith Santini, an automotive instructor at Addison Trail High School. “We tend to do very well at nationals.”

One of his students, William Catlow, is competing in automotive service technology as a junior.

Santini said it’s more than just bragging rights. Winning students receive scholarships, prizes such as tools or other accoutrements germane to their specialty, and they also meet with representatives from companies in their chosen fields.

There’s an international contest called WorldSkills that some competitors can qualify for as well.