![\"Mikala](\"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Mikala_Sposito.jpg\")
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At 10 years old, she tried a welding simulator at a museum, thought it was the coolest thing she\u2019d ever seen, and decided right then that she would be a welder. Eleven years later, she\u2019s going to the world stage \u2014 and no American woman has ever done what she\u2019s about to do.<\/p>\n
Mikala Sposito grew up in Dexter, Michigan.<\/p>\n
She wasn\u2019t supposed to find her calling at a museum exhibit. But in 2014, the American Welding Society set up a virtual welding simulator at the Henry Ford Museum \u2014 the kind of thing most kids try once and forget. Mikala tried it with her parents and felt something click.<\/p>\n
“I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” she said. “I soon made it my thing. Whenever an adult would ask, \u2019What do you want to be when you grow up?\u2019 I would say with excitement: A welder.”<\/p>\n
Most kids say things like that. Mikala meant it.<\/p>\n
Welding camps followed. Then high school classes. Then competitions \u2014 and with each one, it became clearer that this wasn\u2019t just enthusiasm. It was talent, backed by the kind of work ethic that most adults never develop.<\/p>\n
She arrived at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor and met her coach, Alex Pazkowski \u2014 a former WorldSkills silver medalist who had walked the exact same path from that same program. He didn\u2019t sugarcoat what the road ahead looked like.<\/p>\n
“He explained to me that it was going to be far from easy, and arguably the hardest thing I\u2019d ever go through,” Mikala said. “But I was up for the challenge.”<\/p>\n
For two years, she trained 60 to 80 hours a week. Not 60 to 80 hours a month. A week. Friends, family time, ordinary life \u2014 she set it all aside and poured everything into the welding booth.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve had to sacrifice a lot to be here,” she said. “I\u2019ve sacrificed time with friends, time with family. This is my second family.”<\/p>\n
In March 2026, she flew to Huntsville, Alabama, for the USA Weld Trials \u2014 three grueling qualifying rounds against the best young welders in the country. When it was over, one name sat at the top of the standings.<\/p>\n
Mikala Sposito. First overall.<\/p>\n
This September, she will represent the United States at the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai, China \u2014 the event known as the Olympics of the skilled trades, where the world\u2019s best young technical professionals compete across dozens of disciplines. She will be the first woman in American history to compete in welding at WorldSkills.<\/p>\n
When people bring up the history-making part, Mikala keeps it in perspective.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t see the gender aspect of it,” she said. “Welding doesn\u2019t take any brute strength or anything. It\u2019s actually very fine and precise.”<\/p>\n
She\u2019s right. And that\u2019s exactly the point.<\/p>\n
The trades have long been seen as a man\u2019s world not because of what the work demands \u2014 but because of who was told to stay away. Mikala never got that message, or if she did, she ignored it at age ten when she picked up a virtual torch in a museum and refused to put it down.<\/p>\n
Pazkowski has watched elite competitors come through that program for years. He knows what sets Mikala apart.<\/p>\n
“The most impressive thing about her is her work ethic and her ability to overcome the obstacles that you encounter when you\u2019re training at this level,” he said. “That\u2019s inspirational to anybody trying to get into this industry \u2014 or any industry, for that matter.”<\/p>\n
After Shanghai, Mikala plans to earn a degree in welding engineering. And someday, she says, she\u2019d love to come back and teach \u2014 to be the coach for the next Mikala, whoever she turns out to be.<\/p>\n
She was ten years old when she found her path. Twenty-one when she reached the world stage.<\/p>\n
She just wanted to weld.<\/p>\n
And she became a trailblazer anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At 10 years old, she tried a welding simulator at a museum, thought it was the coolest thing she\u2019d ever seen, and decided right then that she would be a welder. Eleven years later, she\u2019s going to the world stage \u2014 and no American woman has ever done what she\u2019s about to do. Mikala Sposito … <\/p>\n