Dexter's Mikala Sposito knows her welding

It’s now on to the national competition for Dexter High School student Mikala Sposito, who took home the Gold Medal in the recent SKILLSUSA - States (Michigan) competition.

Competing in Overall Welding, Sposito has succeeded at the regional and state-wide levels and now moves on again to test her welding skills.

The Sun Times News reached out to her and Blake Ballou, her welding instructor at the South & West Washtenaw Consortium (SWWC).

“It feels extremely rewarding to make it to Nationals, knowing that all of those hours spent in the lab paid off,” said Sposito.

She placed Gold in the Welding-Overall category, out of 15 people.

“Mikala is extremely dedicated and hard working,” said Ballou. “I am extremely happy for her, Mikala has put so much time into this competition it's awesome to see it all come together! Next, we are in full stride for nationals practice! Mikala will be in the lab everyday working towards various different aspects of the Nationals competition. I am very excited to see what she accomplishes next!”

Mikala at work. photo courtesy of the SWWC

Ballou had some other students succeed at States as well, including Andrew Boehm, a Saline High School student, who also placed 1st in the welding category of SMAW (Stick Welding). However, he does not have a National competition. The SWWC’s Fabrication Team, which is composed of three students ( Ellis Meloche - Saline, Cullen Ellis - Saline, Elliott Bell - Dexter), also worked really hard the past few months preparing for their competition, where they finished 2nd at States, just short of making it to the National competition, where only 1st place moves on.

In explaining the state competition, Sposito said, “We started the competition with an orientation where the judges explain what to do when you're in the lab along with general rules about the competition, followed by a time to ask any questions we had. We then took a 50 question written test about general welding knowledge. We had two projects that we had to complete, a steel print (MIG, STICK, and oxy fuel cutting) and an aluminum print (TIG) in a total time of four hours. I got mine done in three and a half hours.”

Thinking about the challenges, she said, “Personally I did not face many challenges during the competition, there were a few hiccups here and there but nothing that made me stress, there was a time where I got concerned about the time I had left but I was able to work efficiently and end with time to spare. I ended the competition feeling very good about my performance which was my goal from the beginning.”

Up next for Sposito is the Skills USA National conference held in Atlanta, Georgia in June, where she will be up against top welders from states around the nation.

“There are a lot more components to the national competition so the practice does not stop as I will be doing a lot of new things to prepare, time will also play a huge role in this competition so I will be really working hard with a time limit and learning how to weld efficiently under pressure,” said Sposito.

Good Luck Mikala!