For Mikala Sposito, a childhood goal is about to turn into a first.
The 21-year-old from Dexter, Michigan, will be the first woman to represent the United States in welding at the WorldSkills Competition in China. Sposito, a student at Washtenaw Community College, earned the spot by winning the USA Weld Trials in Huntsville, Alabama, earlier this year.
“It was very, very close the whole time, but I was the one who made it to Shanghai,” Sposito said.
WorldSkills, described as the Olympics of the skilled trades, decides the globe’s best in technical disciplines including construction, information technology, manufacturing, robotics and welding.
Sposito is the sixth Washtenaw Community College student to qualify in WorldSkills history. The Ann Arbor college said it has produced more WorldSkills welding alumni than any other school in the United States.
One of those alumni, Alex Pazkowski, finished second in 2013 and is now Sposito’s instructor and mentor. He traveled with her to the American championships in Alabama and will coach her through a run of competitions in Canada and Australia before WorldSkills in September.
Sposito will also put in 80 hours of welding practice per week at WCC. Pazkowski said she has “a long, hard road” ahead.
“But at the end of the day, if you’re successful, it’s gonna open up all kinds of doors for you,” he said.
She will be judged on technical execution and craftsmanship under tight time limits and strict international standards. Sposito said she is looking forward to testing her skills against the best in the field, and to traveling abroad for the first time.
On becoming the first woman in the role, Sposito said: “I don’t see the gender aspect of it.
“I mean, welding doesn’t take any brute strength or anything. It’s actually very fine and precise.”
She said she knows women are a minority in the trade, which she said she fell in love with at age 10.
“Being the first female to do it is very cool,” said Sposito, whose near-term goal is to earn her bachelor’s degree in welding engineering at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Long term, she said she might like to follow Pazkowski’s path and teach at WCC. For now, she said she is happy to be “inspirational for many women in the trades who have possibly struggled.”
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