Two Renton Technical College students won gold at the National Skills USA Competition and Leadership Conference in Kanas City, Mo., last month.

Sergiu Midrigan, a student in major appliance and repair technology (MART), and Sean Johnson, a student in precision machining, each placed first in their program.

Midrigan competed against eight other students in major appliance from across the country in the post-secondary division. Each had to diagnose seven appliances, test on technical skills, customer relations and an employability interview. He had 30 minutes to complete each testing section. Midrigan, who will graduate in September, also finished his ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at RTC before entering the MART program.

Johnson is a first-year student in the precision machining program at RTC, and will graduate next year. He competed against 27 other students from across the country in the post-secondary division as well. They were each given an hour and 20 minutes for the various parts of the testing, and Johnson completed the part programming in only 20 minutes.

The MART program at RTC has participated the last four years and this is the first year for the precision machining program to participate.