SkillsUSA Masters: Meet the Medalists at the 2025 SkillsUSA National Competition
SkillsUSA is all about building and promoting the future of many industries, including printing. Meet the students that won medals in Screen Printing, Graphics Imaging Sublimation, and T-shirt Design.
Key Highlights:
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2025 SkillsUSA medalists in Screen Printing, Graphics Imaging Sublimation, and T-shirt Design showcased exceptional creativity, precision, and dedication, proving the next generation of talent is ready to innovate in decorated apparel.
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Their achievements highlight SkillsUSA’s role in developing industry-ready skills, fostering leadership, and connecting passionate young creatives with real-world production experience.
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Apparel decorators can look to SkillsUSA as a pipeline for future workforce growth — engaging with and supporting these students today can secure skilled, motivated professionals for tomorrow’s industry.
In July of 2025, Apparelist published a Threads of Change podcast episode that was all about promoting growth, education, and encouraging the younger generation of apparel decorators to have a voice. The importance of growing our industry and educating the next set of entrepreneurs and decorators is crucial, and programs like SkillsUSA help do so.
The 2025 National Leadership & Skills Conference was no exception. The event brings together more than 19,000 attendees, including students, instructors, industry partners, government officials, administrators, and more. The SkillsUSA Championships features over 6,500 state champions who compete for national gold, silver, and bronze medals in 114 skilled and leadership competitions.
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Among those competitors are those who have a bright future in the printing industry. Competition categories such as Graphics Imaging Sublimation, T-shirt Design, and Screen Printing highlight the up-and-coming youth who may or may not someday find themselves working in the decorated apparel community.
“These are our leaders of tomorrow, and SkillsUSA does an amazing job of helping kids prepare for the future by learning a skill or trade,” believes David Gross, retired president of Conde Systems and judge for the sublimation contest. “The national competition is something you should see!”
PRINTING United Alliance also has an active involvement in the national competition. Josh Carruth, SVP – Association for the Alliance, serves as a judge for the screen-printing category. “SkillsUSA is about more than competition,” he believes. “It’s about building the future of our industry. By supporting these students, we’re investing in the next generation of skilled professionals who will keep our craft thriving.”
To showcase the passion and dedication, Apparelist is spotlighting some of the winners. These 2025 winners demonstrate excellence in every sense of the word, and regardless of whether they end up in the printing industry or not, each has shown the admirable ability to work hard at something they love.
SkillsUSA 2025 National Winners – Screen Printing
College – Gold Medalist Annie Barnes, Catawba Valley Community College – Hickory, NC
In Taylorsville, North Carolina, you'll find quite a bit of agriculture, alongside furniture manufacturing. It's about 30 minutes from any larger city and is considered a small town.
You'll also find college gold medalist in the Screen Printing category at SkillsUSA Annie Barnes.
Now a graduate of Applied Science in Graphic Design, Annie spends most of her free time with family and her fiancé. She enjoys thrift shopping and discovering what's new and what's old.
When Annie graduated high school, she was unsure of what she wanted to pursue. "Instead of going to university, I decided to finish my degree at community college," she says. "I decided that my love for thrifting and clothing was pulling me, and screen printing seemed to be the most viable option for me."
Annie also has some family ties to the industry. "My parents had a screen printing business growing up," she explains. "Their business died after about eight years while trying to balance a home and four children. I decided to pick up the torch with no experience in graphic design or anything printing related. I bought a 8x8 used press and enrolled in graphic design, and the rest is history."
And now that history includes a win at the national level at SkillsUSA. "I was brought to Skills by my Graphic Design teacher," Annie says. "She has made the experience that much better by being excited for us and pushing us to do our best!"
Her first year with the program was at the state level, where she competed in pin design. When she decided she wanted to do something different for her next competition, screen printing was the choice.
"The judges were the best part of the competition," Annie says. "Growing up around screen printing and becoming a professional screen printer myself, it was awesome being able to meet people who have been doing this for so long and who have been very successful!"
As the one who took up her parents' previous business torch, Annie has full intentions to keep going. "I plan to continue to print and grow my business," she says. "I currently work full time as a graphic designer for a printing company locally. Double tasking tends to be part of the game. However, if you are determined, there is not much that can stand in your way!"
High School – Gold Medalist Lean Sanchez, Fontainebleau High School – Mandeville, LA
When you meet Lean Sanchez, you immediately feel her warmth. A star high school student who recently graduated, Leah participated in the National Honors Society, the National Hispanic Honors Society, volunteered at summer camps, and was a member of several clubs. She credits a teacher for her involvement in SkillsUSA.
“Mr. Ryals works at Fontainebleau High School [in Mandeville, Louisiana] … and teaches an elective class,” she says. The class, called Digital Media, is focused on certification and training in programs like Photoshop the first year. After that, students get involved in the printing shop. “That’s where I learned to screen print.”
But Leah’s first encounter with the SkillsUSA competitions wasn’t in screen printing. Rather, she first competed at the state level in the digital advertising arena. She didn’t make it to nationals that year, but the experience motivated her to give it another go, just not doing the same thing.
“I figured out I really do enjoy screen printing,” she explains. “It’s pretty satisfying to watch your print come out at the end and be a part of that whole process.”
Leah again credits her teacher for helping hone her skills, and she very quickly found herself competing at the national level in the screen-printing category this year. She describes the overall experience as “Super energetic — way more fun than I was expecting.”
Leah explains that the actual screen-printing competition was a great experience working through the actual process. They were tested on everything from registering to spotting problems on shirts that were already printed. But she feels the toughest challenge was printing seven shirts in seven minutes.
“It was intense,” she says with a laugh. “That was definitely what I was most scared for!” But despite the nerves and intensity, Leah found herself with a gold medal. When she found out she had won the gold, she was ecstatic.
“It was definitely a moment of immense pride,” she says. “I did work very hard on screen printing. Even after I graduated high school, I would still go back and work on it.”
Along with the immense pride, Leah notes that this is a huge jumping block to a possible career path. Regardless of whether she pursues screen printing, graphic design, or some other printing industry path, she believes the gold-medal win will be a big benefit.
“[Even if I pursue graphic design], I think having a background in production end of it will be very helpful because I’ll have a deeper understanding of what … I can ask of the production team,” she says.
In the end, the experience is also one she won’t soon forget. “I’m definitely talking up SkillsUSA to all my friends,” she laughs.
High School – Silver Medalist Briana Naden, Ocean County Vo-Tech School – Brick Center, Brick Town, NJ
Now graduated from Lacey Township High School, Briana Naden is currently a joint-enrollment student at Savannah College of Art & Design, with plans to attend full time in the fall to study Graphic Design and Advertising Art Direction. You can also find Briana at the local bowling alley — as the previous captain of her high school bowling team, she’s still furthering her bowling prowess.
But bowling isn’t the only thing Briana shines at. As the silver medalist in the screen-printing category at the national SkillsUSA competition 2025, Briana can also now consider herself a printing wizard.
“Screen printing was a small focus within the Design and Visual Communications program at my county vocational school,” she explains on her start with the process. “As there were multiple different class choices, I chose to be with Mr. Ehrhardt for another quarter, landing me in the screen-printing class. I grew fond of it and offered to help out with different orders that customers had actually placed through the school.”
But her true inspiration was Mr. Ehrhardt. “I admired the way he taught so I was keen on staying in his class, where he taught me screen printing. It was the most hands-on thing there was in the program, so it really made me enjoy it,” Briana says.
And like Leah, this inspiration and dedication led her to SkillsUSA, but Briana entered the competition in a little bit different of a path. “I was chosen as a secondary candidate in case another student wasn’t interested or able to attend, which ended up being the case,” she explains. As her first and only year competing, she says it was much larger than she ever imagined.
As a seasoned bowling competitor, Briana applied the ability to participate in a high-intensity environment to her time at Skills, though she says she was still a nervous wreck. “I took deep breaths throughout the competition to keep myself from panicking too much,” she says. The judges also helped keep her calm. “The competition judges made the event more enjoyable with their relaxed attitudes. They took away the ‘life or death’ feeling that I get a big competition like this. They were very friendly and cracked jokes to calm our nerves.”
And when the time came to announce the winners, Briana recalls being shocked when she saw her name among the finalists. “It was a rush finding out that I placed second in the entire competition,” she adds.
She plans to still keep her hands in the screen-printing world as she pursues college courses in the arts and graphics world. “I’m in hopes to find a job at a screen printing company while in the city,” she says. So if you ever find yourself in the Savannah area, keep an eye on the local printing shops.
High School – Bronze Medalist Aaron Anderson, Area Career Center – Hammond, IN
You might be familiar with the Great Lakes, but what you may not realize is nestled near Lake Michigan is the town of Hammond, Indiana, home of Aaron Anderson. A local football athlete who also plays basketball, does community service, and hangs out with friends and family, Aaron has found himself on the receiving end of a bronze medal for screen printing at SkillsUSA.
Aaron made his way into screen printing via his grandmother, who did it while Aaron was growing up. “Now, she has her own heat pressing business named ‘Precious Printing,’ so I grew up around this technology, and I thought it was cool, so I started by taking notes from my grandmother,” he explains. From there, Aaron couldn’t get enough.
“When I found out I can take college classes for this subject, I instantly applied,” he says. “At first, I didn’t realize how detailed and hands-on the process would be. I remember being surprised at how important precision and timing are, especially when it comes to coating screens and pulling ink evenly.”
But that initial surprise soon made way for enjoyment. “Even though I made a few mistakes at the beginning, I quickly started to enjoy the process. It felt great to take a design from concept to final print and actually hold something I made with my own hands,” Aaron says.
And to hear Aaron tell it, the family support to keep pushing runs deep. “I choose to purse my screen-printing education because of my BIGGEST supporter, which is my mother, and also a few more people in my family,” he explains. “My junior year of high school I wanted to quit the class because I felt that it was too much pressure and work with no time. Me and my mother would have talks about why I shouldn’t quit, so now I treat this as a family tradition.”
Aaron carried that passion and support to the national SkillsUSA competition, along with the support of his teach, Mr. Haluska. “I decided to compete in SkillsUSA Screen Printing Technology this year because I wanted to challenge myself and grow in a skill I’ve been developing,” he adds. “This is my first year competing, so I saw it as a great opportunity to learn something new, represent my school, and push myself outside my comfort zone.”
He describes the actual screen-printing competition portion as one of detail and precision. “Printing the design took a steady hand and careful attention to ink levels, pressure, and consistency,” Aaron says. “It was a lot of steps, but seeing the finished print come out right made it all worth it.”
As an athlete, Aaron has experienced his fair share of exhilarating moments. He can now add the moment he found out he won the bronze to that list. “I felt proud, surprised, and grateful all at once,” Aaron recalls. “What made it even more special was knowing that I’m following in my grandmother’s footsteps, she’s in the same field, and winning that medal felt like I was honoring her and everything she’s inspired in me.”
Overall, Aaron says the experience helped motivate him to further pursue screen printing. “I plan to continue developing my screen-printing abilities in college — I’ll be attending Western Michigan University to study it further and turn it into a future career,” he says.
SkillsUSA 2025 National Winners – Graphics Imaging Sublimation
College – Gold Medalist Skye Moffitt, Tennessee College of Applied Technology – Crump, Crump, TN
There’s something very surreal about competing at the SkillsUSA competition, whether that’s at the state or national level. That’s how Sky Moffitt, winner of the gold medal in the college division for Graphics Imaging Sublimation, describes it.
Skye is from the small town of Bethel Springs, Tennessee, where she enjoys reading and art. It was in school where she was first introduced to sublimation. “It was a super fun experience to learn how to heat press designs onto different types of materials,” Skye says of the learning experience. And while she enjoys the graphic design and artistic prowess that comes with sublimation, she says she’s more into IT.
Still, she was convinced by a teacher and some friends to pursue competing at SkillsUSA, which ended up being worthwhile. “I had an amazing time going there, and I made a bunch of new friends,” she says of the experience. “I did not compete last year. I was honestly super nervous to, but I gained the courage to join this year.”
That courage paid off. “My favorite item I made was the ceramic mug,” she says of the competition. “It came out very pretty, and the design was laid out nicely on it.” Skye even found that the judging portion wasn’t too nerve-wracking. “The judges were very kind and fair to every competitor there.”
And when the big moment came and the winners were revealed, Skye felt it was almost too good to be true that she had won gold. “It was a very surreal moment, as if frozen in time,” she recalls. “I genuinely could not process any feelings in the moment. Everyone that I went against so super amazing and friendly!”
And even though Skye doesn’t foresee a future in the world of printing and graphic design, she does have big plans to keep competing. “I hope to attend SkillsUSA next year, except for IT,” she says.
Additional winners
College – Silver Medalist Isaac Miller, Georgia, Augusta Technical College – Augusta, GA (did not respond at time of writing)
College – Bronze Medalist Dane Gardea, Oklahoma, Canadian Valley Tech Center – El Reno, OK (did not respond at time of writing)
High School – Gold Medalist Lizbeth Cigarroa, San Elizario High School, San Elizario, TX (did not respond at time of writing)
High School – Silver Medalist Rocio Flores, California, Eagle Rock High School, Los Angeles, CA (did not respond at time of writing)
High School – Bronze Medalist Corissa Russell, Regional Career Center, Coventry High School, Coventry, RI (did not respond at time of writing)
SkillsUSA 2025 National Winners – T-shirt Design
College – Gold Medalist Carmen Clippinger, Alamance Community College, Graham, NC
Carmen Clippinger lives in the small town of Efland, North Carolina, a town known for the yearly Rodeo hosted by the Efland Ruritian Club. She loves the arts, being outside, and volunteering with the youth group at her church.
And Carmen also loves graphic design. “I got my start into graphic design through school-related classes,” she says. Now in her third year at Alamance Community College, she’s explored a variety of general ed courses, but nothing really sparked her interest. “So I took a class on Adobe Illustrator. As it turns out, I loved it, so I joined the program.”
It was in that graphic design program that she was introduced to garment design for a project for a local brewery. “My initial experience was great, it was an awesome learning experience to work with a real client and to figure out the design problems they brought up.”
Her teachers brought SkillsUSA to her attention. “My professors encouraged me to give it a shot because they had seen my work in class,” Carmen says. While she loved her experience, she created a little extra stress for herself. “I will say that I went down to the wire with my design — I started a whopping two weeks before it was due. I don’t recommend that at all!”
Despite that, she had an amazing experience at the competition, and got to bring her North Carolina-inspired design to life. “I ended up with a design that depicts NC’s three distinct geological landscapes: the mountains, the piedmont, and the coastal area,” Carmen explains. “I had a great experience in Atlanta, it was definitely a cool experience of networking and seeing other people’s God-given talent.”
When the announcement was made that she had won the gold, Carmen felt ecstatic. “It didn’t seem real!” she gushes. “All glory be to God! He gave me the talent to complete the design and He allowed me to articulate my presentation with confidence and persuasion. … Honestly, it took a bit for it to set in, I woke up the next morning after both states and nationals and was like, ‘Yeah ok that really did happen. That’s crazy.’”
Carmen has every intention of finishing her degree, but as far as what her future looks like, she’s keeping an open mind. “Graphic design is definitely not the end all, be all for me,” she says. “I want a chunk of land, a farm, and some cows a whole lot more than a desk job. Even with that being said, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning more about graphic design and more about the job. I’m excited to keep learning in school and hopefully soon on the job!”
High School – Gold Medalist Kayleanna Zaccardi, Desert Hills High School, St. George, UT
Kayleanna Zaccardi has an absolute passion for graphic design. Now a high school graduate, the gold medal winner in T-shirt Design has high aspirations to pursue a career in the graphic design and printing industry. But what you may not know is that Kayleanna is also nearly done with her college degree as well.
After moving to the St. George area early in her high school career, Kayleanna found that the educational opportunities were much more abundant, giving her a chance to explore a variety of options that interested her. “It definitely presented more opportunities,” she explains.
Through a lot of hard work and dedication, Kayleanna moved through her high school courses quickly, which allowed her to take classes at Dixie Technical College during her senior year. “I’m in [the digital design program], and they cover everything, such as logos, branding, marketing, everything you could need in the design world they cover in that class,” she explains of the program.”
Much like graduating at an accelerated pace, Kaylenna poured that same dedication into SkillsUSA. “I was prepping for months for it, it took a lot of my time,” she says. Starting freshman year, she took as many art classes as she could, which eventually led her to hone the skills needed for the competition. She even had the opportunity to learn how to operate screen-printing presses, direct-to-garment printers, and more.
Like many other SkillsUSA participants, Kayleanna’s teacher had a huge influence on getting her to the competition as well. “Mr. Smith was my first graphics design teacher and pushed SkillsUSA … he is really passionate about it.”
Kayleanna is a multi-year competitor at the state level, where she secured a silver medal the first year. “I’m a very competitive person, and if I don’t win, I lock in,” she laughs. After a bronze medal year two, and a gold year three at state, Kayleanna found herself at the national competition.
Her winning design was a love letter to the state of Utah, a design that took months upon months to conceptualize. “I didn’t just want to make a design about Utah, pop it on a shirt, and call it good,” she says of her process. “I wanted to make a design that the judges [and other people] would want to wear.” Ultimately, she settled on a collage of Arches, mountains, animal tracks that represent the predator-prey relationship.
When she found out she won the gold, she didn’t think she won. “I was thinking internally, did I just do that? How did I do that? I went from thinking I was in top 10 to getting gold,” she gushes. “I walked to my teacher trying not to ball my eyes out, adrenaline just crashing. I called my mom and dad and I pretended I didn’t win. I held up the medal and they just started crying!”
All of her schooling, coupled with a profound experience at SkillsUSA, has led to a fire burning in Kayleanna to pursue a career in the industry. “I’m hoping to get a job in either working for a company or independently creating branding for small businesses,” she says. “I really like doing apparel! I feel like I’m pretty good at [designing] for apparel. Maybe I can help businesses out and design their apparel.”
High School – Bronze Medalist Anna Parks Leonard, Golden Strip Career Center, Greenville, SC
Anna Parks Leonard is always on the hunt for opportunities to learn. Currently a high school junior, she’s the kind of student that’s extremely motivated. You can find Anna Parks playing the guitar (she taught herself), walking the local market with her dad on weekends, and even volunteering at art events.
You can also find Anna Parks exploring graphic design opportunities. That’s how she found herself at the national SkillsUSA competition this year. “My school offers opportunities to attend a career center,” she explains of her path to Golden Strip Career Center. “Before knowing that, I loved designing logos and digital art. So, I decided to enroll at Golden Strip Career Center. … The other career centers didn’t have digital art, which is what I wanted to do and try. They had it, I talked to my advisor, and she told me to reach out to them. I was enrolled by the next year.”
That decision ultimately paid off for several reasons, notably leading her to a bronze in the T-shirt Design category. She explains that Golden Strip is heavily involved in promoting SkillsUSA, and her digital design teacher explained the process to her class. “Me and couple other classmates got voted to compete at the state level,” Anna Parks says of her journey to the competition. “It was an awesome opportunity to meet with others in the graphic design field. I got the gold at state. Next thing I knew I was on a bus to Atlanta to compete with other contestants [at the national level].”
While this was her first year competing at SkillsUSA, Anna Parks notes that despite some nerves, she felt relatively calm and confident. Going into the national competition, that cool confidence paid off during the judging portion. “I was intimidated at first, but I had practiced my speech and was confident with my design,” she says.
Anna Parks’ design, a tribute to the state of South Carolina as well as SkillsUSA, ultimately snagged her the bronze, but it was her skill in building it that was the real win. It included features such as the state flag and a gear, a design she says represents togetherness.
When it came time to announce the winners, that’s when Anna Parks felt all the emotions. “I was completely shocked!” she says. “My legs were shaking walking up the stairs in front of all those people. My teacher has a video of me crying. It was so surreal! And it went by so quick.”
Anna Parks sees the experience as yet another opportunity, one she may use to springboard into future plans. But truthfully, she’s open to what presents itself next. “I think that I will look for more opportunities to be in the design industry,” she says. “I don’t know if that will lead to me creating logos or what, but I am looking into design communications.”
Additional winners
College – Silver Medalist Sarah Karagoz, Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Valdosta, GA (did not respond at time of writing)
College – Bronze Medalist Daxton Porter, Davis Technical College, Kaysville, UT (did not respond at time of writing)
High School – Silver Medalist Katrina Hung, Monmouth County Vocational School – Wall, Wall, NJ (unavailable for comment)
Middle School – Gold Medalist Destiny Conley, School for the Highly Gifted, Grand Prairie, TX (unavailable for comment)
Middle School – Silver Medalist Brandon Hamblin, West Henderson High School, Hendersonville, NO (unavailable for comment)
Middle School – Bronze Medalist Lucas Mastin, Arizona, Cooley Middle School, Gilbert, AZ (unavailable for comment)