Prattville High broadcast media class qualifies for national competition

Bryden Legg’s Prattville High School broadcast media class qualified for the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference, putting an Autauga County program on the same stage as the nation’s top student competitors and sending it to Atlanta for the June 1-5 event.

SkillsUSA says the 2026 championships will bring more than 6,500 state champions into 114 skilled and leadership competitions. The conference is also expected to draw more than 19,000 attendees, including students, instructors, industry partners, government officials and administrators, making it one of the largest gatherings centered on America’s future skilled workforce.

The qualification matters because it did not come from a one-day showcase. Alabama SkillsUSA says students move through district competition first, then advance to the state level, and only first-place state winners earn the right to compete nationally. Prattville’s place in that pipeline shows the program has already cleared multiple rounds of evaluation before reaching Atlanta.

At Prattville High, Legg teaches Media Foundations, Broadcasting and Film, and the school lists SkillsUSA among its clubs and organizations. That gives the qualification a direct connection to classroom instruction and to the campus’ broader career-and-technical education structure, including PHS TV/Film. For students in that program, the national berth reflects more than school spirit. It points to training in planning, teamwork, scripting, interviewing, camera operation, audio, editing and live production, the same technical habits that drive local media work and public-information jobs across Autauga County.

SkillsUSA says its competitions are judged by industry and can lead to scholarships, tools of the trade and job offers right off the competition floor. That is why Prattville’s trip to the national stage carries weight beyond the classroom. It signals that a local program is preparing students to meet professional standards in a field where clear communication and technical precision matter every day, from school productions to community news coverage and county communications.

For Prattville, the qualification puts a hometown name in a national competition built around workforce readiness, and it gives Autauga County another example of a school program producing students ready to perform beyond the county line.