April 29, 2022 – Blackstone Valley Vocational Technical High School, Upton, MA
Contest pieces in various stages of completion.
Massachusetts State Skills contestants and Judges
Andrew Cardin, State Skills Coordinator, going over the contest instructions with the 12 contestants.
Welding State Skills finalists at the awards ceremony. 1st Place gold medalist, Sophia Payson in the center.
On April 29th, 2022, the Blackstone Valley Vocational Technical High school hosted the Massachusetts State Skills Finals for the Skills USA national welding competition. There were 12 student finalists from each of the Massachusetts regional welding competitions, that were held earlier in the year. Andrew Cardin, a past National Skills competitor, 1st place USA champion and a 5th place world skills champion, assumed the role as the Skills USA state skills coordinator for Massachusetts, taking the torch from Scott Houle of Steel Fab in Worcester MA. after 20+ years of service as coordinator.
He, Andrew, patterned the competition along the lines of the national Skills USA welding competition criteria and came up with a challenging set of test pieces incorporating the SMAW, GMAW, FCAW, and GTAW welding processes along with an OFC exercise. The judging was handled by five in-process observer / inspectors and two AWS (CWI) inspectors using VT acceptance criteria in accordance with AWS D1.1:2020. The students also had a written knowledge exam that they were required to take as part of the welding competition.
The competition went well with only a few minor incidents, finalists were determined and the winner was announced at a ceremony on Friday, May 13th, 2022. Sophia Payson was awarded a gold medal for her efforts.
Contest pieces in various stages of completion.
Massachusetts State Skills contestants and Judges
Andrew Cardin, State Skills Coordinator, going over the contest instructions with the 12 contestants.
Welding State Skills finalists at the awards ceremony. 1st Place gold medalist, Sophia Payson in the center.