NEST is providing travel support for students who qualified to compete in the Facilithon #NextGenOfFM National Finals, a SkillsUSA competition designed to introduce high school and technical school students to careers in facilities management.

The Facilithon finals will be held during the SkillsUSA Championships, taking place June 1-5 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The SkillsUSA Championships bring together more than 6,800 state champions from across the United States to compete in 115 skilled and leadership competitions, making it one of the largest hands-on workforce development events in the world.

“Programs like Facilithon give students confidence, exposure, and a clearer understanding of how their skills can translate into meaningful careers,” said Rob Almond, CEO of NEST. “We are proud to support that mission and help create access and awareness for these important and rewarding career paths in facilities management.”

Based in South Jersey, NEST helped establish the Skilled Trades Advisory Council in 2023 to address the growing labor shortage and elevate awareness of careers in the trades. According to the company, supporting students through Facilithon is a direct extension of that effort, connecting young people with real-world exposure, career exploration, and future pathways in the trades.

NEST’s support is helping students travel to Atlanta from across the country, including Pennsylvania Facilithon state winner Ashley Vargas from Eastern Center for Arts and Technology in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The group also includes Drew Kraus of Hartford Union High School in Hartford, Wisconsin, who is returning to the national stage after winning gold in Facilithon at the 2025 SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference.

“Facilities management has too often been a career people discover by accident,” said James Zirbel, chairman of FM Pipeline Team Inc. “Facilithon is helping change that by introducing students to the field earlier and giving them a structured pathway into scholarships, internships, and future careers. With support from companies like NEST, we are creating the next generation of facilities management talent intentionally and strategically.”

The Facilithon competition tests a student’s ability to thrive in a facilities management environment through a 50-question quiz, a 10-minute facilities management role play, and the FM Challenge, an emergency scenario that requires students to respond in real time. The program is designed to help students think like facility managers and raise awareness of a career path many young people do not know exists. It is administered by FM Pipeline Team Inc., a nonprofit organization created to develop facilities management talent programs across the United States and abroad where applicable.

The SkillsUSA Championships represent the national culmination of a yearlong process that begins in local chapters across the country. Students advance through local, district, regional and state competitions before state gold medalists earn the right to compete nationally.