San Juan College students win top honors at SkillsUSA state competition

Thirteen of 15 students representing San Juan College and San Juan College High School placed in their SkillsUSA events, bringing home medals in firefighting, automotive service technology, collision repair technology, diesel equipment technology and welding. The results put San Juan County’s career and technical education pipeline on display in a competition built around job-ready skills, not classroom theory. For families in Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and Kirtland, the showing pointed to a direct path from school training to work in fields the region depends on.

San Juan College said its medalists included McKay Cook, William Collins and Kolby Cockrell in firefighting. Dawson Rhodes, Sven Steffenson, Reily Kirk and Lyndell Allison earned recognition in automotive service technology. Joe Thomas and Candice Moya medaled in collision repair technology, Alejandro Magallanes, Blake Barton and Kylee Sifsof placed in diesel equipment technology, and Carson Miller was recognized in welding.

SkillsUSA New Mexico held its 2026 State Leadership & Skills Conference March 18-21 in Albuquerque, and the organization says the state gold medalist in each competition advances to the National Leadership & Skills Conference. SkillsUSA describes that national gathering as the largest annual event for America’s future skilled workforce. In that setting, San Juan County’s 13 placements out of 15 competitors showed the local programs were competing against a statewide field, not just nearby schools.

Central New Mexico Community College said more than 900 students from across New Mexico competed at the 2026 state conference, and CNM students won 28 medals in 12 categories. That scale helps explain why every placement carries weight for programs trying to prove they are producing students with usable skills in welding bays, garages, repair shops and emergency-service settings.

SkillsUSA’s framework centers on personal skills, workplace skills and technical skills grounded in academics, and SkillsUSA New Mexico says its mission is to help members become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. For San Juan College and San Juan College High School, the medals offered a concrete measure of whether that training is paying off for students, employers and the regional economy.