(WACO, Texas) – Students at Texas State Technical College’s Waco campus won medals earlier this month in two contests at the 2026 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Students were eligible to participate in the national conference by winning gold medals at the 2026 SkillsUSA Texas Postsecondary Leadership and Skills Conference held in April in Corpus Christi.
SkillsUSA is a professional organization focused on employability, leadership and technical skills that help college students pursue successful careers and be part of a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA holds more than 100 contests at the state and national levels in which students can compete.
James Chung, of Austin and Waco, is a second-semester Cybersecurity student. He won the gold medal in the Telecommunications Cabling contest. He is the first TSTC student statewide to receive a medal in the contest, according to data from SkillsUSA.
“I try to be humble in any situation,” Chung said. “When it came up (that he was a gold medalist), I was really surprised and honored.”
For the national contest, Chung worked at four fiber optics and nine copper wiring stations. He said his experience working on the construction side of a help desk at an information technology company in the Dallas-Fort Worth area helped him work with the cabling.
“The state contest wasn’t that hard,” he said. “I had to dedicate more time studying for nationals.”
Agustin Lara, an instructor in the Cybersecurity program who went with Chung to Atlanta, said his win is an important milestone.
“This to me shows that we have students dedicated to honing their skills and putting them to the test against others,” Lara said. “This also shows companies out there that we have quality students who are ready to work after they graduate.”
TeamWorks is a two-day build involving carpentry, electrical, masonry and plumbing components. The team of Oscar Flores, of Belton; Luke Latham, of College Station; Mason Szabo, of Princeton, Texas; and Jonathan Wendell, of San Antonio, received the contest’s silver medal. This is the second consecutive year a TeamWorks group from the Waco campus has received a national medal.
Flores is used to the national spotlight. He was a member of Belton High School’s gold-medal TeamWorks team at the national conference in 2024.
For his first TSTC contest, Flores took on the plumbing duties.
“It was tough on the body, especially since I was in a car crash in October,” he said. “I had to fight through it.”
Flores noticed other teams around them were progressing faster, but he kept one word in mind: quality.
“With Luke as lead, he did not discourage; he wanted us to finish on time,” he said.
Wendell is a third-semester student in the Electrical Lineworker and Management program. He was recruited to the TeamWorks group for his electrical skills.
“It’s a great feeling to place, naturally,” he said.
Wendell took part in SkillsUSA when he was a student at the North East Independent School District’s Career and Technical Education Center in San Antonio. He took part in the Electrical Construction Wiring contest.
Building Construction instructor and TeamWorks advisor William Morelock said he was proud of the students’ determination and effort.
“This is a very hard skills competition,” he said. “My team is excited to go back next year for the gold. I enjoy watching my SkillsUSA students grow and gain the knowledge to take on anything that is put in front of them.”
Next year’s SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference is set for June 21-25, 2027, in Atlanta.
For more information on SkillsUSA, go to skillsusa.org.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.