ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Growing up, Mikala Sposito dreamed of being a trailblazer.“I always wanted to be the first female to do something,” she said.That dream is about to be realized.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 coveted 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.Described as the Olympics of the skilled trades, WorldSkills determines the globe’s best in technical disciplines that include construction, information technology, manufacturing and robotics.And, of course, welding.Sposito is the sixth Washtenaw Community College student to qualify in WorldSkills history. WCC has produced more WorldSkills welding alums than any other school in the United States, the Ann Arbor college said. One of them, Alex Pazkowski, who finished second in 2013, is Sposito’s instructor and mentor.
He accompanied her to the American championships in Alabama and also will be her coach at a series of competitions that will take them from Canada to Australia in the months leading up to WorldSkills in September.
