FAME team earns national runner-up finish

PHIL CAMPBELL — Northwest Shoals Community College’s FAME team earned a national runner-up finish during the 2026 Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education National Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, in the program’s first appearance at the competition.

The team included Edwin Vela of Russellville, Terrell Rickard of Tuscumbia, Jackson Collins of Muscle Shoals and Noah Aday of Florence.

The students all graduated in May with Associate of Applied Science degrees in industrial systems technology and are employed by Constellium in Muscle Shoals.

The team won first place in the Manufacturing Core Exercises 4 Problem Solving competition at the Alabama FAME Summit earlier this year.

FAME Instructor Jeff Rogers said the national finish was especially significant because NWSCC had never previously advanced to the competition.

Rogers said state-winning teams submit videos for national consideration. Three teams were selected to advance to the live national competition, where independent judges evaluated presentations and projects.

Rogers said the NWSCC team finished just three points behind first place out of a scoring system worth more than 700 points.

Students in the FAME program split their time between classroom instruction at NWSCC and paid industry experience with partner companies. They identify real world workplace problems, develop solutions and present their findings as part of the program’s manufacturing core exercises.

Rogers said the program expects its largest class yet this fall and has maintained a 100% placement rate with graduates employed when they complete the program.

Vela said learning how close the competition was reinforced the team’s confidence in its work.

“All the presentations there were very good, but it makes me feel better that our presentation had the potential to be the first-place winner,” he said.

The team presented the same problem-solving project that earned the state title. The students identified a problem involving dust and debris entering a motor room connected to a shredder system. They developed a solution designed to reduce equipment damage and downtime.

Rogers said the NWSCC team’s project generated an estimated $1 million in cost avoidance for Constellium.

Vela said the national competition felt less intimidating than the state contest because it was held in a smaller conference room despite the higher stakes. He said presenting before large audiences was challenging, but classroom presentations helped prepare him.

Allison Mefford, NWSCC’s manager of workforce development and apprenticeships, said the team’s success at both the state and national levels reflected the quality of the students’ preparation. “Placing second on a national stage directly following a win on the state level proves that our students have the elite professional and technical skills required to lead in a modern manufacturing environment,” Mefford said.

Kim Sizemore, Constellium maintenance training manager and cochairperson of the Shoals FAME Chapter, said the partnership between NWSCC and local industry gives students opportunities to apply classroom learning in real world settings.

“By integrating rigorous academic learning with real-world application at Constellium, we are developing more than just technicians; we are developing leaders,” Sizemore said.

Vela said the program helped him build both technical skills and a career path.

“The FAME program has blessed me with a fulltime job at Constellium and has really expanded my electrical knowledge,” he said.

He credited Rogers for helping students understand the material and prepare for careers in industry.

“My electrical knowledge has increased drastically since I started the program,” Vela said. “I came in not really knowing a whole lot about anything electrical, but Jeff Rogers does a really good job at making you understand the material that he is giving you.”

Rogers said Vela graduated at the top of his class and distinguished himself throughout the program.

“He is one of those students that you kind of always hope for,” Rogers said.

He described Vela as technically advanced, dependable and quick to learn.

“He’s always gotten his work done in a timely manner. He doesn’t require a lot of assistance. You help him once, and he gets it,” Rogers said.

Vela plans to continue working at Constellium. He is considering pursuing an engineering degree online while working fulltime. He said he is most proud of how the team worked together throughout the competition.

“We were able to put Northwest Shoals and Constellium on the map,” Vela said, “and I’m proud we could do that.”