Smithville Senior’s SkillsUSA Win Showcases Trades’ Value

By Kristen Meriwether, Publisher

It’s a Thursday morning in early April, and Smithville High School senior Konner Namken is under the tent at the SkillsUSA State Championships for plumbing in Corpus Christi. His challenge for the competition is to build a rough-in for a washing machine wash box (the pipes to get the water to your washing machine).

During the five-hour competition, students are given a set of plumbing plans—just like a professional plumber would be—and graded on accuracy and time.

As the clock starts in Corpus, tools begin to clank on the benches, and competitors and judges are running around. Teachers aren’t allowed to communicate or instruct their students, and phones are outlawed, so no ChatGPT to help out. With students from 5A and 6A schools and career academies, the competition is tough.

Namken finished his build in about four hours, giving him time to review everything before turning his project over to be judged.

And then came the two-day wait for the results.

“In the back of your head, you're wondering, did I do this right? Or was this at the right spot,” Namken said in an interview. “To me personally, you can’t stress about it that much, because what happened, happened. It's in the past.”

Finally, on Saturday, Namken heard his name called for first place and took his place atop the podium. He will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, June 23-28, to participate in the SkillsUSA National Competition.

It was a crowning achievement for the Smithville senior who had placed as high as third in previous SkillsUSA competitions. And it was also a testament to the program, led by vocational building trades teacher Ryan Moerbe, who collected his third state championship banner in eight years.

“It was something that I never would have thought of in a million years, honestly,” Namken said. “It's something I wish I would have gotten into years before, looking back on everything, but I’m glad that I found it before it was too late.”

His win wasn’t just about his own success; he’s already looking out for the next generation. He introduced eighth graders to the CTE program, hoping to spare them his own regret. He doesn’t just explain what’s in the course, but why it’s so important.

“Most students nowadays, I feel like, don't see that. And they just take it for face value,” Namken said. “I just hope that they won't be like me with SkillsUSA and come into it their senior year and wonder where's this been my whole life?”

Namken’s love for all things mechanical started on his family’s 55-acre farm in Rosanky. He grew up surrounded by the hum of tools and the wisdom of hands-on work.

“Growing up in the sticks, it gave me that old school mindset, the morals that they grew up on, what they were raised with,” Namken said.

His grandfather was a plumber, and his father is an electrician with LCRA. His cousins and uncle are mobile diesel mechanics. There was never a boring moment, and things were always being taken apart and put back together.

He began to restore antique John Deere tractors with his grandfather from a young age, something the self-proclaimed history buff continues to do today.

“Keeping the past alive to me is something big, because without it, you wouldn't have a future,” Namken said.

Just a few years ago, they built a house from scratch without contracting anything out. Namken said the accomplishment taught him the value of having something to show for your hard work.

From a young age, Namken has seen the value in the trades. He played select baseball for six years and loved it. But when it came time to select a pathway for high school, he opted to develop his love for the trades instead of playing sports.

“What would the world do without plumbing? Ninety percent of people, if they went to turn on the water and nothing came out, they'd have a heart attack, they'd shut down,” Namken said. “Being able to help yourself, be self-sufficient and have those skills under my belt, that's why I went the way that I did.”

For Namken, it’s not just about necessity—it’s about the pride he feels in the work.

“It's a sense of pride and belonging, knowing at the end of the day you have job security,” Namken said. “They need me for this. I have a reason to be here.”

Coach Moerbe has seen the value the skills he’s teaching can bring to his students. During our interview, he pointed to one of the championship banners on the wall and said that student called him after graduating from Texas A&M and getting his first job offer, making $150,000 as a project manager.

But it’s not just the students who choose the college route. Each year, he sees five to six students go into either plumbing or electrical trades. Moerbe said the other state champion he coached is now working as a team lead for Blue Ribbon in Bastrop.

A few years ago, he had a student with a rough home life who loved electrical work. Right out of high school, that student went to work for Easton Electric in Bastrop, making $55,000 annually. After three years, that student was making over $80,000 a year and came back to the high school to show Moerbe his new truck and new apartment.

“That makes it all worth it, right there, when you see kids that came from nothing, and what they learned in this class they take,” Moerbe said. “And now he's 22 years old, and he's living the dream.”

With his state championship, Namken won a $10,000 scholarship he plans to use to get his associate’s in instrumentation from Texas State Technical College.

We asked if he plans to open his own plumbing business, and he said it’s something he’s always wanted to do.

Then he recited a favorite quote a friend told him: “Build your dreams, or someone else is going to pay you to build theirs.”