Nick Sandefur Competes in the United Association's Apprentice Competition

Please help us congratulate one of our technicians, Nick Sandefur, on his 2nd place victory!

Last week was the semifinal round of the United Association's apprentice competitions for a chance to compete for the UA national title in August. Participants came from locals all over the Midwest, including Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington DC. There were 34 total participants from 25 local unions in 5 different disciplines of Welding, Plumbing, HVAC-R, Sprinklerfitting, and Nick's group, Pipefitter.

Nick participated in a competition that lasted 24 hours, spread over three 8-hour days, competing against 6 other pipefitters who were state champions. The competition involved various tasks related to pipefitting, including a pipe rigging challenge and projects such as soldering and brazing copper pipe, welding, roll-grooving, threading steel pipe, and bending stainless tube. The projects were evaluated by a panel of expert instructors and training coordinators from different local unions.

Each competitor had won their local and state contests to be able to participate in this week’s contest. Nick won our local contest back in February and traveled to Evansville to compete, and win, at the state level in March, where he placed 1st in the competition there.

We are so proud of Nick and want to acknowledge the skills, craftsmanship, and brotherhood that were on display all this week as he was alongside his competitors. We are so excited for Nick to lead in his role as a new Journeyman and look forward to seeing how he will continue to pass along his knowledge and skill to those that come along in his footsteps.

"I met Nick the day he started the trade 7 years ago and had the privilege of working side-by-side with him for the first five years of his career. I have had the opportunity to watch him grow not only as a tradesman but also as a person. Nick has the gift of mechanical understanding with problem-solving capabilities to overcome obstacles. One thing that sets Nick apart from others is that he has always been knowledge-driven and constantly strives to learn as much as he can. With Nick’s talent and his will to be the best, I am excited to see what his future holds."