KAYSVILLE—Davis Technical College (Davis Tech) was represented well at the recent 2026 SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, students brought home 10 medals: five gold, two silver, and three bronze. The competition showcases the nation’s most highly skilled career and technical education students.

More than 7,000 state champions across the United States compete head-to-head in 115 skilled and leadership competitions, according to the SkillsUSA website: SkillsUSA.

Beckham Dickson, a recent Farmington High School graduate, won gold in plumbing. Courtesy/Davis Tech

 Beckham Dickson, a recent Farmington High School graduate, won gold in plumbing. “My uncle owned a plumbing business and that’s kind of what got me into the plumbing side,” he said. “I’ve always liked trades like doing framing, concrete work – all of that.”

Dickson said his cousins all went to Davis Tech and said it was great. “I saw they had a program where you could start as a junior. I decided to start that and now just finished senior year as a second year (at Davis Tech).”

It’s a four year program and there’s two tests per semester, he said. “It’s technically like eight different sections. So you have one 1A 1B, 2A, 2B. I just finished the 2B section and then in the fall I’ll be starting the 3A section.”

Dickson recently stopped working with his uncle. “I started working with my buddy who also went to Davis Tech and started his own business,” he said. “I’ve been working with him now for about eight months. I’ll probably start working full time in the fall. Eventually I’ll open up my own business and get a general contracting license. Then own a full plumbing side while being able to still subcontract out other companies.” 

It started off with a teacher who told him about the competition, he said. “I didn’t know what it was and he said I’d be great for it. It basically started off in the classroom. We had a small regional competition and we put together this mock up of PVC.”

The top three projects got to go to state, said Dickson. “It was bigger. The judges gave you a set of plans and basically just said work. It was an ABS drainage with venting and then copper water lines.”

After that, Dickson said he took first in state. “I went to nationals and then that was a lot, lot bigger and a lot harder. It was a 12 hour competition with cast iron drainage, DVC venting and a full water line system with a lab washer box and sink.”

Dickson ended up taking first in nationals his junior year. “Then now I did the same thing my senior year and did the state, regional state and national and took first in all six of those competitions.”

Brinkley Harris took gold in T-shirt design. “I’ve always been an artist my entire life, she said. “I put that aside and started going to more of the design aspect. I explored a little bit at Southern Utah University but I felt I’d be more supported at Davis Tech after doing more research.”

Harris ended up transferring to Davis Tech. “It was kind of like at first I thought, ‘I’ll try this out’ but I definitely fell in love with web and graphic design.”

Her T-shirt depicts a bison. “I’ve always had a big passion for the environment of the Great Salt Lake and just of Utah in general. I’ve taken a lot of biology classes in that kind of realm. I’m a hiker and I mountain bike so I’m always in that sort of area. I’ve grown up in it.”

Harris said Antelope Island is her happy place. “I feel like whenever people talk about Utah they talk about the mountains or the arches but I wanted to kind of draw more focus toward the Great Salt Lake. I love the island. I feel like it needs a lot more attention, especially right now that it’s shrinking.”

Harris said she wanted to represent that in her design. “I will have more of a platform and voice for people that hear it and understand it more. When people think about Antelope Island they think of bison. So I wanted to go into the history of that more. That’s how I came up with the bison as my main subject.”

The bison itself represents Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake within the bison itself, she said. “I traced a current image of the Great Salt Lake instead of a previous image just to show that it is shrinking rapidly and it does not look anything like how it used to look in the past.”

Harris and Dickson are joined by other students who medaled:

Davis Tech SkillsUSA Winners:
Gold
Kalyn Harvey, Promotional Bulletin Board (Postsecondary)
Abby Crowther, Promotional Bulletin Board (Postsecondary)
Shyann Loveland, Promotional Bulletin Board (Postsecondary)

Silver
Owen Hunsaker, Welding Sculpture (Secondary)
Stefan Reed – Internetworking

Bronze
Dave Thompson, Plumbing (Postsecondary)
Max Jacobs, Web Design and Development (Postsecondary)
James Jensen, Web Design and Development (Postsecondary)