Unaka High School students win at National SkillsUSA Championship

Published 5:42 pm Monday, July 28, 2025

By Brittnee Bryant
Star Correspondent

For the second year in a row, Unaka High School students won at the national SkillsUSA Championship this summer.

Cooper Shanks and Elijah Stines took home gold in their competitions, while Madison Warren placed fifth and Morgan Grant placed in the top 20 for their competitions. The event was held in Atlanta, Georgia, during the week of June 23, with the official ceremony taking place Friday, June 27.

“I won last year as well, so I really had something to prove to myself and everybody around me that it wasn’t just a luck thing,” said Stines. “So, it felt great to know that it wasn’t just a one-time thing.”

SkillsUSA is a workforce development organization for students. Unaka High School has been participating in the program for nearly a decade. According to Scotty Johnson, automotive collision repair instructor, 22 state champions have come from the program. To qualify for nationals, Unaka’s students had to place top three in regionals and win state.

This year, four students went to nationals in the following categories: prepared speech, collision damage estimating, collision repair technology, and job skill demonstration. Leading up to the competition, Shanks says he continuously practiced alongside his classmates.

“I constantly just practiced working, repetition is the best way to say it,” he explains. “Every one of our competitions, Mr. Johnson made us continue to work and work until we were blue in the face.”

When describing SkillsUSA, Johnson says it’s like a sports team, with students practicing and striving for success.

“We stay after school and practice,” he explains. “Students put in a lot of after-school hours to be able to compete. It provides more opportunities for scholarships and employment opportunities.”

Both Stines and Shanks have participated in SkillsUSA for three years. The pair are thankful for their time in the organization. Shanks says his win at nationals is something he will carry with him for the rest of his life.

“It felt like a great thing I can tell my kids and grandkids to inspire them to do things in their life,” he says. “It showed me I can do bigger than myself.”

Shanks says he plans to study aviation mechanics at Northeast State Community College. Stines says he plans to continue his job in the workforce. He currently works at Wallace Collision Repair in Bristol. He says he will soon be going under a body tech to learn the craft.

Johnson says he is asked all the time how students in the organization are successful.

“I offer the kids an opportunity, and I want them to trust the process,” he explains. “And the process is what it’s about, and we outwork them. So, we don’t really talk about winning so much as we talk about our work and preparing, and the rest will follow. So we always try to lead by trust the process.”

To keep up with SkillsUSA and all other organizations at Unaka High School, check out the Unaka High News Facebook page.