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Home > Tim's Blog

Here are the Numbers

June 1st, 2009

307,052. That’s the final membership number for this year and the largest annual membership in SkillsUSA history! That’s due in large part due to the support of our state association directors, board and supporters, and it says a lot about your leadership and faith in the organization.

9,354 is today’s registration total for the national conference. That exceeds last year’s registration of 9,225. 

5,408 is the contestant count. Last year’s count was 5,243. 

83 seminars and workshops will be held during the SkillsUSA University in Kansas City. That’s 16 more than last year.

143 is the number of TECHSPO exhibitors and 18 of them are new. The number of exhibitors is down slightly from last year, but in this economy, I believe staying within 20 of last year’s exhibitors is quite an accomplishment. 

18 states have already signed up for Officer 101/201 taking place before conference, and we’ll have 15 recipients of the President’s Volunteer Service Award presented during conference.

44. May 8 was the big 44th  birthday for SkillsUSA. We celebrated the birthday and the membership numbers during a staff luncheon here at the national center. At the same time, we hope lots of chapters were celebrating with the National Week of Service in their communities.

Highlights

June 1st, 2009

  • Within the last month, I’ve met or talked to representatives from National Fluid Power, Family-to-Family, the Special Olympics and coordinators from the National Hardware Show. They all see involvement with SkillsUSA as a way to enhance their organizations.
  • We’re excited about a new concept for CSEP (Career Skills Education Program) to the colleges bundled in such a way that schools can load it on their servers for a single license. We hope that will boost CSEP’s reach.
  • The Vision 2020 subcommittee met via Web conference on May 7. Cameron Ferguson, president, SkillsUSA board of directors, chaired the conference and board members Russ Hoffbauaer and Tony Glenn joined us. The committee did a lot of refining to the vision statements, and the plan is to share the revised Vision 2020 with the board via e-mail in the upcoming weeks and then take it to the corporation meeting in Kansas City for reaction from the corporate body. One thing is certain: The SkillsUSA of 2020 is looking bigger, more effective and more influential with every draft. I know the committee is looking forward to sharing its work.
  • Speaking of Web conferences, we held a condensed board training session on May 14 for Russ Hoffbauer of State Farm and Nick Morrisroe of Benzomatic. We appreciate their service and taking the time during the week to go through the Webinar.
  • Thanks to staff, we’re finally back in business with the voice mail system. As the song goes, “You don’t miss your water ‘til the well runs dry.” Even in this day of e-mail, it’s amazing how much we missed the voice mail system.
  • Please note our new mailing address for SkillsUSA. We’re no longer a post office box or James Monroe Highway. We’re now 14001 SkillsUSA Way, Leesburg, VA 20176. We will, however, still receive mail sent to the old address for the next several months.

Timberland Community Service Volunteers

June 1st, 2009

Timberland is requesting that all community service project participants fill out a waiver prior to conference and bring it with them to the service project registration site on Friday, June 26.

The waiver form is located at www.skillsusa.org/educators/timberlandsvc.shtml.

Calculated Industries Scholarship – The deadline for this scholarship has been extended to June 12.

June 1st, 2009

Calculated Industries (CI), a leading manufacturer of specialty calculators and electronic tools and a SkillsUSA national sponsor, is once again offering a scholarship competition for secondary, post-secondary and vocational school students who are members of SkillsUSA. 

Student Inventors are invited to submit an application that includes a design for a new SkillsUSA-trade-related hand-held calculator that will be useful to at least one of the trades represented by SkillsUSA. Winners will be chosen by Calculated Industries executives and its product development team. 

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

Be an active member of a local SkillsUSA student chapter.

Product idea submissions must be for a device that involves calculations relating to a trade represented by SkillsUSA. 

More detailed information is included in the attached Rules and Terms and Conditions: www.skillsusa.org/downloads/PDF/scholarships/calcind.pdf

    Scholarship Prizes:

  • Gold – $1,000 scholarship
  • Silver – $ 500 scholarship
  • Bronze – $ 250 scholarship
  • 4th – 10th Places – $100 Gift Certificates

Road Closures and Directions to Kemper

June 1st, 2009

SkillsUSA has received confirmation from Kansas City that the Cesar Chavez bridge has been reconstructed and is now open. 

Here are new directions to the Kemper Arena. The directions can also be found at

www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscdir.shtml.

Westbound:

South on Interstate 35 to 20th St.
West on 20th to Summit St.
South on Summit to Cesar E Chavez Avenida (23rd St. Trafficway)
West on Cesar E. Chavez to American Royal Dr.
American Royal Drive to Wyoming St.
North on Wyoming to 12th St.

 Eastbound:

South on Genessee St. to 17th St.
East on 17th to American Royal Dr.
South on American Royal Dr. to Cesar E Chavez
East on Cesar E Chavez to Southwest Blvd.
Northeast on Southwest Blvd. to Broadway Blvd.
North on Broadway to 12th St.

 Detour map:

www.kcmo.org/pubworks/12thStreetDetour_052209.pdf 

The directions to Kemper are included in the NLSC Program.

Assessment Demo Center at NLSC

June 1st, 2009

Have you heard about the Skill Connect Assessments, but you haven’t yet had the chance to try them yet? The SkillsUSA Work Force Ready System team will be hosting a demonstration center in Booth M (in the corner of Lobby 2500 near the Ballroom) of the SkillsUSA TECHSPO in Kansas City, June 23-25.

Advisors/Administrators are welcome to stop by for a hands-on demonstration. Over 30 career and technical education assessments areas will be demonstrated. Educators who complete the demonstration and provide feedback in the short survey will be eligible to win an Apple iTouch! One iTouch will be given away each of the three days of the TECHSPO.

2009 Washington Leadership Training Institute

June 1st, 2009

The 2009 WLTI will be held at the September 19-23, 2009 at the Hilton Washington/Dulles Airport. State association directors-please read the following to help you with registration.

Application and Registration Process
The national office has outlined steps for this year’s WLTI registration process. Students who are interested in attending MUST apply to their state office, be accepted by their state office and meet state approval prior to being registered. Advisors and other participants do not need to apply through their state office and can follow the registration steps below. WLTI application, registration, and liability/medical forms are available online. Please contact the national office at 1-800-321-8422 if you wish to have WLTI forms mailed/faxed to you; ask for Susan Trent.  Questions about the application process can be directed to Deborah Kenn Tripp at 1-800-321-8422, ext. 637 or dtipp@skillsusa.org.

NLSC 2009 Parking Information Reminder

June 1st, 2009

Parking passes for Municipal Auditorium Garage and Cathedral Parking Garage for conference week will be sold on-site only. The cost will be $45 for Municipal and $35 for Cathedral. Passes will be on sale in Lobby 2100 (north side of 13th Street), just outside the SkillsUSA Conference offices the following days and times: 

Sunday, June 21, 10:00 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Monday, June 22, 9:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. 

Cash, checks, VISA and MasterCard are accepted. A map of the immediate downtown area with other parking options will be provided there. State association directors will receive one complimentary parking pass in their packets. 

Please refer to the following link for more information:

www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscparking.shtml.

Dunk Tank Returns to Nationals

June 1st, 2009

Bosch Power Tools will, once again, help raise money for the Alumni Fund by hosting a dunk tank during the 2009 SkillsUSA National Conference. We seek state directors, state officers, state trainers, national officers or others who are well known in the SkillsUSA family who can bring out a crowd to dunk them!

The dunk tank will operate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the Bosch outdoor exhibit area. All proceeds raised by the dunk tank will benefit the Alumni Fund. Chances cost $1 a ball or 4 balls for $5. Last year, the effort raised $1,500 for the SkillsUSA Alumni and Friends Association.

Bosch seeks willing dunkees to spend an hour in the tank, and all proceeds will be tracked by state. The state raising the most funds for the alumni will be recognized by SkillsUSA and Bosch at the August State Association Director meeting.

Tank shifts are first-come, first-served from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday. Dunkees should take a swimsuit or wear clothes they do not mind getting wet. Towels will be available.

To schedule your state representative in the dunk tank, call Rebecca Langguth at Bosch at 224-232-2736 or email her at Rebecca.Langguth@us.bosch.com. If you have questions for SkillsUSA on this effort, please contact Karen Perrino at 703-737-0610 or kperrino@skillsusa.org.

How Green Are You?

June 1st, 2009

The ultimate green challenge is here. State association directors, please ask your advisors to let their students know about an online quiz to find out how “Green” they are. The students with the top scores will be entered into a drawing to win a laptop and green products. The contest prizes are sponsored by Cengage Learning. Go to our Web site at www.skillsusa.org/students/howgreen.shtml to take the quiz.