Recent Crestwood and Maplewood Career Center graduate Ethan Thompson has a bright future. The Red Devils’ alum was crowned the 2025 SkillsUSA National Champion in the industrial motor control category on June 27 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
“It is hard to even put into words,” Thompson told The Weekly Villager on July 11. “It was such a cool experience with everything I have been able to learn and then put it into use. It was such an honor to be number one on that podium.”
Thompson’s prize for winning the industrial motor control championship comes in the form of free tools courtesy of IDEAL Electrical, Southwire Tools, Milwaukee Tool and Fluke Electrical Test Tools, which he is already putting to good use in his current job at Stellar Electric. Thompson also earned a guaranteed interview with Schindler Elevator & Escalators, a leading global manufacturer of elevators, escalators and moving walks, in Cleveland if he is ever interested in changing jobs.
As The Villager previously reported, Thompson was one of four Maplewood Career Center students to qualify for the SkillsUSA National Championship. Thompson becomes the first student to win the industrial motor control competition since Garfield alumnus Isaac Russell did so in 2018.
In a two-day competition, Thompson was tested in all facets of his trade.
On Wednesday, the competition began with him having to bend two pipes to specific measurements, troubleshoot a circuit through a disconnect, experience a mock interview with the judges, take a 90-multiple choice question exam that covered everything in the codebook followed by a 30-question math test, all in a span of eight hours.
According to Thompson, he experienced a challenging start when he made a mistake attempting to bend his conduit, but his day only improved from there.
He credited his Maplewood Career Center electrical instructor, Joe Svonavec, for thoroughly preparing him for everything the competition had to offer.
“Going into it, I felt really good because my teacher set me up perfectly for this competition,” he said. “Everything that we learned in class was exactly what I needed going in. We covered everything that I saw there.”
Thompson said that in the exam portion, all competitors were allowed to use their codebook for references to find the answers to certain questions.
On Thursday, Thompson was put to work by wiring all day.
“We got what is called a ladder-logic diagram, it is just a wiring schematic and you had to follow it perfectly, so we started at 7:30,” he noted. “From 7:30 to 11:30 I wired all day, and I was feeling really confident and felt really good about how I was able to read the schematic and felt really good about where I needed to put my wires and how to number them. We then ate lunch, and I finished around 1:30 with all of my wiring.”
Thompson shined in the practical component of the competition, with his dual motor starter conveyer system being the only one that functioned properly out of all of the other competitors.
According to Thompson, excelling in the practical portion of the competition gave him the edge, propelling him to first place and crowning himthe champion on Friday.
He said that finishing in first place was a great honor but the best part about it was seeing his parents in the crowd, especially his father, who taught him the tools of the trade before he even started studying at the Maplewood Career Center. Thompson said that everything he did at the SkillsUSA National Championship was dedicated to his father, who currently works at Schindler Elevator and Escalators.
“It was a lot for my Dad and especially my teacher too because very sadly, my teacher could not be there, so I really, really wanted to win for him which was such a good feeling when I was able to,” Thompson noted.
He added that another highlight of the competition was representing the community of Mantua at one the biggest trade competitions in the nation, which welcomed several competitors from larger cities.
“I have lived here my whole life, I have grown up around the same couple of kids my whole life,” he noted. “There were kids from all over the nation, a bunch of kids from Atlanta but knowing that I grew up in small farm town was such a cool feeling.”
Thompson said that he plans to remain at his current job at Stellar Electric for at least a year before he considers taking another job elsewhere.
“I wanted to work part-time for the first year and get settled into the working field and the job that I have right now allows me to do that and I like where I am at right now,” he said. “It is a perfect starter job, and I am still learning so much at this job right now.”
