One hundred students showed their passion for additive manufacturing while competing for prizes at the 2025 Additive Manufacturing Competition, held in Atlanta during the 61st annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in June. Co-sponsored by SME and Stratasys, the competition — first held in 2013 — educates high school and postsecondary students about additive manufacturing technologies and design, and provides them with real-world, hands-on experience they can apply to a commercial product.
At this year’s competition, students from three middle schools, 34 high schools and 13 postsecondary schools in 39 states used additive manufacturing to design and create prototypes of the next generation of electric vehicles — in the process producing 500 parts over a three-day period. With Stratasys 3D printers, they applied innovative design principles to create lightweight structures, incorporate complex geometries and generate prototypes of energy-efficient features. Each team documented their processes in an engineering design notebook and presented their 3D printed vehicles to the judges.
The winning schools were:
Middle School
- Gold Medal: Alfred Lyon and Ishaan Sarker, Sleepy Hill Middle School, Lakeland, Florida
- Silver Medal: Logan Cowger and Shane Lynch, Peotone Junior High School, Peotone, Illinois
- Bronze Medal: Delilah Sales and Nolan Thibodeaux, Nellie N. Coffman Middle School, Cathedral City, California
High School
- Gold Medal: Ayden Fajardo and Maxwell Lopez, Gloucester County Institute of Technology, Sewell, New Jersey
- Silver Medal: Brian Bang and Kyan Dunn, Career Tech High School, George, Utah
- Bronze Medal: Jaydon Leonard and Baydon Stanley, Davie High School, Mocksville, North Carolina
Postsecondary
- Gold Medal: Justin Davis and Jason Hursh, Calhoun Community College, Decatur, Alabama
- Silver Medal: Will Schofield and Braxton Todd, Utah Valley University, Orem, Utah
- Bronze Medal: Jorge Martinez and Autumn Sereno, Texas State Tech College, Marshall, Texas
“It really pushed our limits in additive manufacturing and design,” says Braxton Todd, a postsecondary Silver medal winner, about the competition. “The challenge was quite difficult, and it was really fun to compete.”
“It’s an awesome learning opportunity, and you get a lot of exposure to people in the industry,” says Todd’s teammate, Will Schofield, about SkillsUSA.
Besides participating in the competition, 93 students took — and 67% passed — the Additive Manufacturing Fundamentals Certification Exam, which was administered free of charge. Test results were included as a percentage of total points earned by each competing team. Students take their certifications — which are coveted, industry-recognized credentials — with them as they enter the workforce, giving them a head start in a field that’s critical to manufacturing’s future.
One of the competing high schools — Michigan’s Saline High School — progressed to the national Additive Manufacturing Competition after winning a state-level competition during Saline’s first year in the SME PRIME® (Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education) school network.
“SkillsUSA is an amazing opportunity for students to showcase their skills in an environment like no other,” says Trent Trout, Saline’s computer integrated manufacturing instructor and SkillsUSA advisor. “After winning the state competition, my students doubled down in refining their skills. Being a part of the SME PRIME network helped give them the confidence they needed to compete at the highest level. The equipment and resources that SME PRIME has supported us with have not only helped this year's students, but will help future students competing at SkillsUSA.”
One hundred students showed their passion for additive manufacturing while competing for prizes at the 2025 Additive Manufacturing Competition, held in Atlanta during the 61st annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in June. Co-sponsored by SME and Stratasys, the competition — first held in 2013 — educates high school and postsecondary students about additive manufacturing technologies and design, and provides them with real-world, hands-on experience they can apply to a commercial product.
One hundred students showed their passion for additive manufacturing while competing for prizes at the 2025 Additive Manufacturing Competition.