By Organ Mountain News on Aug 7, 2026

Eight DACC students place at national SkillsUSA competition

Eight Doña Ana Community College students placed at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta after winning state titles earlier this year.

Doña Ana Community College’s East Mesa campus in Las Cruces. Eight DACC students placed at the national SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta in June. (Courtesy photo / Doña Ana Community College)

Students earned finishes ranging from fourth to 22nd after qualifying through New Mexico’s state competition

Organ Mountain News report

LAS CRUCES - Eight Doña Ana Community College students earned top finishes at the national SkillsUSA competition held in Atlanta in June.

The students placed fourth, fifth, eighth, 10th and 22nd among more than 7,000 competitors, according to DACC.

Each student qualified for the national event after earning first place at New Mexico’s state SkillsUSA competition in March.

DACC’s national competitors were:

Gael Lugo, architectural drafting
Julien Beltran, information technology services
Estevan Smith, internetworking
David Deal, technical computer applications
Luis Velasco and Thomas Tucker, cybersecurity
Ricardo Morales, sheet metal
Chioma Abed-Amazu, computer programming

The national competition drew more than 19,000 attendees and included state champions competing in more than 100 categories.

More information about SkillsUSA is available at skillsusa.org.

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