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Meet Rising NASCAR Driver Peyton Sellers and Support SkillsUSA

June 15th, 2009

Meet rising NASCAR driver Peyton Sellers and support SkillsUSA

Through our partnership with Jig-A-Loo USA, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Peyton Sellers will be attending our national conference this month. He will be present at the Jig-A-Loo TECHSPO exhibit where autographed limited edition die cast replicas of the car Peyton drove in Daytona with the SkillsUSA logo on it will be available for purchase.

Not able to attend conference? You can still support SkillsUSA and Peyton by purchasing a die cast car online here: www.skillsusa.org/students/peytonsellers.shtml.

Proceeds directly benefit SkillsUSA and our partnership with Peyton Sellers.

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Sample Press Release for NLSC Competitors and Participants

June 15th, 2009

A sample press release has been added to SkillsUSA’s advocacy site. It’s a template to be used by state association directors, instructors, parents and others to help get the word out to the media when they return from conference about the students who competed or participated in some other way (i.e., as a delegate, courtesy corps member, etc.) during the National Leadership and Skills Conference. The letter can be sent to five media outlets at a time. The site can be reached by going to www.skillsusa.org/about/policy.shtml and click on “advocacy site.”  All teachers, feel free to use and spread the word about this valuable tool.

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Live from Kemper Arena

June 15th, 2009

SkillsUSA, in collaboration with School Video News, will broadcast the pre-event activities and the entire opening and awards ceremonies online from the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City. This first-ever live streaming video will feature interviews with students and delegates, capture the exciting on-the-floor activities, and give family, friends and sponsors the opportunity to watch students as they receive their awards. Please pass the word to advisors, students and family of conference attendees.

To view the SkillsUSA Opening Ceremony broadcst on Tuesday, June 23, beginning at 6 p.m., CST, go to www.ustream.tv/channel/skillsusa09-opening.

To view the SkillsUSA Awards Ceremony broadcast on Friday, June 26, beginning at 5:00 p.m., CST, go to: www.ustream.tv/channel/skillsusa09-awards.

Both events will also be archived and be available by clicking the same links after 24 hours and on www.youtube.com and www.schooltube.com.

A special promotion for the two broadcasts is already posted online at www.schooltube.com/video/37759/SkillsUSA-Live-Coverage-Promo

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2009 NLSC Parking Information

June 15th, 2009

Parking passes for Municipal Auditorium Garage and Cathedral Parking Garage for conference week will be sold on-site only. The cost is $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, from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Monday, June 22, from 9 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.

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Special Greetings from Mike Rowe

June 4th, 2009

SkillsUSA is thrilled to announce that Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs, will be sending a personal message to SkillsUSA via video, which will be shown as a part of the Opening Ceremony of the National Leadership and Skills Conference. Be sure to visit mikeroweWORKS.com to view how Mike is drawing attention to career and technical education and those entering America’s skilled work force!

 

Photo courtesy of the Discovery ChannelPhoto courtesy of the Discovery Channel

Visit Mike Rowe’s Web site.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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