Bonneville County native representing the U.S. in WorldSkills Competition

Imagine representing the entire nation. That’s what one Bonneville County native will be doing in Russia. He will be representing the country in the WorldSkills competition for Automotive Refinish Technology.

Alex Perkes will be representing the country at the WorldSkills competition in Kazan, Russia.

“The way it works is we go to skills and it’s the state competition. All the high schools and colleges and they go and the winner of that goes to nationals then the winner of nationals in the whole united states gets to go to worlds,” says Todd Smith, Instructor at Technical Careers High School.

“He’ll be going up against all the different countries. It’s kind of like the Olympics for collision repair,” says Lindon Oswald, Principal of Technical Careers High School.

They say Perkes will be the first person from Idaho to represent the country.

“It’s one of those things where it really motivates you to do your hardest, do your best. It makes you want to put everything you have into it. Obviously you’re representing everybody at that world competition,” says Perkes.

He graduated from Technical Careers High School this past June. But his former teachers and classmates are excited.

“Everyone at the school is ecstatic. We announced it in the school and everybody cheered. And it couldn’t have happened to a better student. He’s very charismatic and fun, just a good wholesome kid,” says Oswald.

“He’s very good. He actually came to work at my shop while he was in school here and worked there in the summer before he went off to college,” says Smith.

Perkes says it’s opportunities like that from his teachers that have helped him get to where he is.

“I definitely wouldn’t be here without my former teachers and the opportunities I was given by them,” says Perkes.

Which inspired him to put in the necessary work.

“I put everything I had into learning how to do it. I definitely wouldn’t consider myself an auto body prodigy to begin with. I struggled a lot, I had to work and put in six or seven hours a day,” says Perkes.

Perkes will continue to train until the competition in 2019. His professors at Lincoln College in Denver are also proud of him.