Students in the spotlight: SkillsUSA success

By Lauren White. 

Roofing made its mark at the 2025 SkillsUSA, inspiring the next generation of tradespeople and showing thousands of students why the future looks brighter from the rooftop. 

The 2025 SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference (NLSC) was a celebration of hands-on talent, industry partnerships and student potential. With record-breaking attendance rumored to be 18,000 strong, the energy on the show floor was unmistakable. For the roofing industry, it marked another major step forward in introducing future generations to the viability of a career in roofing as well as an effort to help close the skilled labor gap. 

SkillsUSA is a national organization dedicated to solving one of the country’s most urgent workforce challenges: the widening gap between job openings and trained professionals. Each year, more than 440,000 career and technical education students and teachers join SkillsUSA across nearly 5,000 schools in all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to compete in over 130 skilled trades. Students begin with local competitions, then advance to the state-level competition and the first-place winners from each of those competitions then travel to Atlanta, Georgia for the national competition, this year taking place June 23-27.   

Roofing’s rise 

Roofing was officially added to the national competition lineup of skills in 2023, and it’s been quickly gaining traction and recognition. This year, 21 students from 17 states earned their place at the national competition by advancing through state-level contests. The competition was divided into high school and college/postsecondary categories, with winners earning cash prizes, trophies and valuable industry tools. This year, we had 15 high school and six post-secondary students competing.  

High school division: 

• First place: Damien Holloway, Florida 
• Second place: Brigham Richardson, Arizona 
• Third place: Nathan Luz-Santos, Tennessee 

College/postsecondary division: 

• First place: Samuel Oelfke, Minnesota 
• Second place: Chenxi Huang, Florida 
• Third place: Kelly Cosgrove, New York 

First-place winners received $1,500, a championship belt and a Leister Triac ST handheld hot air welder. 

Hands-on, head-turning booth 

Roofing was bigger and better than last year! We had larger scaffolding and remained the only two-story booth in all three halls. Multiple roofing systems were also represented this year. Upstairs, two different types of roofing systems were installed to reveal the layers that go into each of them – one was TPO and the other was EPDM. Asphalt shingles were also installed around the perimeter of the safety fencing. Multiple sponsors had tables set up this year for more education and interaction with the students to really showcase how many different facets of the roofing industry there are. Sponsors included: Roofing Alliance, National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), The Coffee Shops, Roofing Technology Think Tank (RT3), National Women in Roofing (NWIR), Georgia-Pacific Building Products, GAF, Leister, OMG, Elevate, SRS distribution, Johns Manville, ABC Supply, Atlas, Central States, Eagleview, National Roofing Partners (NRP), QXO, Roofing Contractor, TAMKO, IB Roof Systems.   

The talk of the show was the heat welding though. Johns Manville had three people stationed upstairs helping those who ventured there learn how to heat weld TPO. “It felt like we had half the show floor come through our booth on Tuesday,” said Karen Edwards, COO of The Coffee Shops. “Everyone was excited to be here, learn something new, like the heat welding and share what they were excited about.” 

Being stationed at the exit of the scaffolding was really exciting for us at The Coffee Shops. We met students, parents, advisors and others who were invited to chat with us, live on our YouTube channel, to share their experiences at the Roofing Pavilion. And doing a quick interview also meant they got a special roofing pin. The pins are all the rage here. Each state and territory has its own unique design, and everyone strives to collect them all, along with any special industry pins. This year, the Roofing Pavilion offered two: one for anybody stopping by the booth, and the other for people who went upstairs, tried heat welding, interacted with sponsor booths and then joined us for an interview about what their favorite part was – generally heat welding!  

It wasn’t just the pins that drew attention to the roofing pavilion, we also had some special guests join us Tuesday morning. Fox Business News did a live 90-second story from the top of our Roofing Pavilion, and they talked to last year's winner, Brandon Lopez, as well as his advisor, Bryan Raeckelboom with Golden Strip Career Center in South Carolina. And then Ty Pennington with Rock the Block joined us again this year and did some videos up on top of the roofing pavilion. 

Voices of the next generation 

Not only were students thrilled to be featured in our live YouTube videos, but they’re so eager to learn and curious about roofing and what the world of trades has to offer. I continue to be amazed by their professionalism. They are articulate, excited and hungry to learn. They ask thoughtful questions and share their interest in trying different trades before settling on a career path. It was great to see how many were intrigued by roofing after interacting with our booth. “The students that we talked to are so well spoken. I'm always so impressed with how well they speak their thoughts, how excited they are to be here and just learn anything. And they ask a lot of great questions,” Karen shared. 

A win for workforce development 

This event is part of a broader effort by NRCA and industry stakeholders to spotlight roofing as a rewarding career path and introduce the trade to more young people. By integrating roofing into SkillsUSA, NRCA and its partners are helping students discover new possibilities, develop critical skills and connect directly with employers. 

Whether you’re a contractor, manufacturer or supplier, the message is clear: the roofing industry needs you to help shape the next generation. One of the most effective ways to get involved is by partnering with local trade schools to bring training and mentorship to students who are ready to work. During our interviews with the roofing competitors when asked how they got interested in roofing, they all had the same answer – because someone came and talked to them about it. 

As the industry looks toward the future, these young competitors remind us that talent is out there — it just needs a platform, encouragement and the right tools. At SkillsUSA, roofing found all three. 

We’re already looking forward to next year! If you weren’t able to make it or are curious to hear from students and sponsors, check out our YouTube playlist – live from SkillsUSA!