Davies’ SkillsUSA R.I. gold medalists preparing for nationals

LINCOLN – Davies Tech senior Allyson O’Regan sat inside The Vets Auditorium in Providence on March 31 to hear the results of the historic 50th annual SkillsUSA Rhode Island State Competition’s award ceremony.

After winning the Prepared Speech category the last two years, she wondered if she could pull off the trifecta and earn a third straight trip to the Nationals SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta between June 1-5.

“I was actually as nervous as I was the past two years; when I heard my name called as the gold medalist, I was, like, ‘Really?’ I was in shock,” the Pawtucket resident said. “I can’t believe I’m a threetime gold medalist. Everyone keeps asking me how I placed first three years in a row, and I just answer, ‘I really don’t know. I

honestly can’t give you an answer.’”

She thought for a moment, then added, “I will say this: I know I worked really hard on this. “

When you hear what she had to do within that category, it’ll make perfect sense. SkillsUSA officials asked qualifiers to follow an annual theme, the 2026 version being “Champion Your Future.” According to O’Regan, the competitors could write whatever they wanted to in line with that topic, but then they had to turn it into a five – to seven-minute presentation.

They also had to memorize verbatim the speech and deliver it as flawlessly as possible to a panel of judges.

Pressure? Seriously?

“In this year’s speech, I just talked about my last four years at Davies and me being in the state SkillsUSA for the past three and getting to go to nationals the last two,” she said. “I also spoke about how it allowed me to champion what I want to do in my future.

“I want to be a pediatric nurse someday because I like working with kids a lot,” she added. “I feel like I have a passion for being able to see how a young life starts and how they grow along the way – mentally and physically. I’ve always had a passion to help people, and I enjoy giving back to my community, so I think the best way is to become a pediatric nurse.”

Incredibly, Davies captured a whopping 40 medals on the night. In fact, O’Regan and 17 others captured gold across 13 events, with 16 of those victors qualifying for the trip to the Peach State (as two gold medalists competed in statewide-only categories). The Patriots also finished with 10 silver medals and 12 bronzes in an additional 19 competitions.

In addition, the national qualifiers represent a broad geographic range within the Davies community, with seven victors from Pawtucket, two from North Providence, a pair from Providence, and one each from Lincoln, Smithfield, East Providence and Johnston.

According to Davies’ SkillsUSA Advisor Kathryn Dacier, who serves as the school’s career coordinator as well, the achievements reflect the strong collaborative spirit and technical excellence found throughout the school’s diverse programs.

“I am so very proud of what these students accomplished,” she said. “I’m not surprised because I know how hard our kids work, but I was pleasantly surprised with the number of medalists. That number 40 just may be a school record, but I’m not sure because I don’t have access to the records.”

She said the 18 golds might be as well.

“I know all of these students are extremely deserving,” she said. “I’m just so happy for them.”

Like O’Regan, junior Gabe Szurley, an Advanced Manufacturing major from Lincoln, repeated as gold medalist, again in the CNC 2-Axis Turning Programmer category.

“It feels good to win again; I kind of knew what to expect, so I was a little more prepared and less nervous, for sure,” he said. “I just wanted to improve on what I did last year. When I was sitting at The Vets and they announced my name, I was happy; it was more of a relief, but I was also thinking I wanted to do better at nationals that I did a year ago.

“Obviously, I’d love to win a medal, but if I finished top 10, I’d be good with that,” he continued. “This is pretty hard because my program at school is mostly focused on manual machining at my current grade level, so I haven’t even really studied this stuff yet. I’m putting more work in on this. This isn’t the kind of thing we focus on in my grade, so if I got top 10, that would be a huge step for me.

“Right now, I’m going above and beyond in terms of my education.”

For those wondering what his task entailed in front of the judges, he said he had to program a CNC machine that would cut parts for some tool or object used in machining.

“When you’re working with the 2 Axis, you’re actually programming how the machine is going to move to produce the parts, so I did whatever a client would want me to do,” he said. “A 2 Axis is for cylindrical parts, so it might be a valve or some sort of pen, something that’s cylindrical.”

Szurley’s goal someday is to enter in the field of manufacturing, his dream to enter rocketry and someday perhaps work for SpaceX.

Fellow junior Matthew Montoya, a Pawtucketer, told a different story.

He actually won the gold medal in Precision Machining a year ago as a sophomore, but did not attend the national competition. The reason: It was only a statewide event; it’s not offered on the national level.

“I didn’t get the chance to go to Atlanta last year, and that hurt,” he said. “When I saw everyone packing up to go, I was disappointed because I had won my event. I felt like I had demonstrated my skills well, and I was really proud of that.

“All last summer and fall, I thought about a category where, if I won, I could go to nationals.”

He chose the CNC 3 Axis Milling Programmer category and was named the winner at the awards ceremony.

“It feels great; I honestly can’t believe it, and I’m so glad I’m going to Atlanta,” Montoya said. “It was a lot of work; I studied so much for this.”

Like Szurley, he’s only a junior, so he had to learn things his instructors have yet to address in Advanced Manufacturing. In CNC 3 Axis Milling Programming, he said, it’s the actual production of three-dimensional parts.

“You’re making blocks; you can machine from left to right, back to front, up and down, so you have more possibilities for length, for more complicated parts,” he said. “You can pretty much make anything, unlike a 2 Axis.”

Upon graduation, Montoya is interested in chasing a degree in mechanical engineering and, someday, specializing in the aerospace field, perhaps SpaceX.

“I’d like to design or build rockets, airplanes, etc.,” he said. “I want to make the most of my future; there are so many opportunities out there.”

Last year, he said he earned a $2,000 scholarship certificate to New England Institute of Technology, and this year, he, Szurley and the rest of the gold medalists collected a $1,000 scholarship, meaning if they attend school there, they can put them to good use.

To help the winners to the national stage in Georgia, the school will host the annual “Davies Got Talent!” fundraiser on Friday night, May 8. The community is more than invited to support these hardworking students as they prepare for their next levels of competition.

Dacier indicated the Patriots’ team will leave on May 31 and return June 6.

“This year’s competition is a little earlier than usual because of the World Cup,” she said. “That’s OK with us. We’re going to do the very best that we can.”