Lockport students, teacher take home awards at SkillsUSA National competition

Lockport Township High School students brought home gold and silver medals when they competed at the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference in June.

According to an announcement from Lockport Township High School District 205, seven students travelled to Atlanta from June 23-27 for the competition “demonstrating excellence in career and technical education,” following their school record breaking performance at the state competition in April.

The 2025 competition was the largest SkillsUSA event in the organization’s history with more than 18,000 students competing from all around the U.S.

SkillsUSA is a national workforce development organization for students, which encourages students to become “skilled professionals, career-ready leaders, and responsible community members” through career and technical education programs, according to the organization’s website.

Three students, Stephen Reuter, Samuel Drong and Gavin Leone, earned Gold Medals in Engineering Technology Design, the top honor in the category.

Additionally, Duncan Kenney-Benson received a Silver Medal at the competition in Technical Drafting.

“It showed their dedication and efforts, and was a great accomplishment for these seven students to qualify out of regionals, win at the state level, and then compete against the other state champions at the national competition,” former LTHS drafting and design teacher and SkillsUSA advisor Jeff Brown said in the release.

Brown retired at the end of the 2024-25 school year after 30 years at District 205, during which time he coached 17 state champions.

“They put in even more time in the two weeks, after the school year, to prepare for nationals, and it showed. To have four of the seven students medal at the national level competition, and two others place ninth is amazing and very impressive! I am so proud of what they all accomplished and so impressed by the effort they put it in to accomplish what they did,” Brown said in the release.

District 205 students were not the only Porters to earn recognition at the competition. Matt Mullins, a current LTHS career and technical education instructor and SkillsUSA advisor, was named the Regional SkillsUSA Advisor of the Year and was recognized as a finalist for the National Advisor of Year Award

“Congratulations to Mr. Mullins for all he has done for LTHS SkillsUSA and Illinois SkillsUSA,” Brown said. “His effort and dedication was awarded as the state advisor of the year, regional advisor of the year, and one of the five finalists for national advisor of the year.”

“LTHS’s strong showing this year highlights the strength of the school’s Career and Technical Education programs and its commitment to preparing students for success beyond high school,” District 205 said in a news release.