Garrettsville – The nation’s best industrial motor control electrician makes his home in Garrettsville, Ohio.
Isaac Russell, 2018 graduate of James A. Garfield High School and Maplewood Career Center’s Electricity program is the national champion, having finished on top of the SkillsUSA competition in Louisville, Kentucky.
Isaac began his journey to the top in January by competing at Maplewood against fellow classmates. He competed in both Industrial Motor Control and Construction Wiring and placed first in both disciplines.
Before moving on to the regional level contest held at Trumbull Career and Technical Center (TCTC) on March 3, 2018, Isaac had to decide which field he wanted to focus on. Since he had competed at the state level in Construction Wiring as a junior, Isaac decided to challenge himself by forging on to a different field : Industrial Motor Controls. (A bit of “been there, done that” kicked in, perhaps.)
A first-place finish at the Regional competition was a stepping stone to the State stage, which took place on April 24 & 25 in Columbus. A bout with illness may have slowed him down but he persevered to complete his project. His determination and skill were rewarded with the 1st place gold medal, best in Ohio. On to Nationals!
With the help and guidance of his electricity program instructor, Joe Svonavec—also a James A. Garfield graduate—Isaac prepared for the SkillsUSA National Championship meet held June 25-29 in Louisville, Kentucky. SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving some 395,000 middle school, high school and college students across the country; it’s a big deal. The week-long event included approximately 6600 participating in over 100 different events. For two days Isaac demonstrated his skill and knowledge in conduit bending, interviewing, trouble-shooting, and a 4-hour test of the ins-and-outs of the National Electric Code (NEC). His winning project required him to wire a system that replicated an air pressure system alternating between two motors. Piece of cake, right?
On June 29th, at the awards ceremony, Isaac’s hard work, knowledge and skill were recognized as being the best in the nation. As if achieving such outstanding recognition were not enough, Isaac received this honor on his 19th birthday. Even better than birthday cake—a gold medal!
