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SkillsUSA will, once again, be raffling off a Dyna Super Glide Motorcycle at the 2013 National Conference Awards Ceremony, Friday, June 28, in Kansas City. This event is made possible thanks to a generous donation by Harley-Davidson Motor Co., Inc.
The SkillsUSA Alumni & Friends Association will be the beneficiary of this year’s raffle. Tickets are $5 each or five tickets for $20.
Three corporate representatives from Caterpillar – including Youth Development Foundation (YDF) member, Cameron Ferguson – met on January 28 at National Association of Manufacturing (NAM) headquarters with YDF member, Jennifer McNelly, president of The Manufacturing Institute and her communications team, Mike Rowe of mikeroweWORKS, another SkillsUSA staff member and me. The overarching topic was the public image of manufacturing and how to engage all four organizations in a national movement to educate youth about the benefits and opportunities of careers in manufacturing. Jennifer and her team are working on an action plan including media outreach featuring Mike Rowe.
The following day, Mike Rowe and his team met with Cameron and his team and me in Washington, D.C. Mike is a corporate spokesman for Caterpillar as well as a scholarship underwriter for SkillsUSA. We spoke with him about participation in the national conference, doing some promotion for SkillsUSA including the WorldTeam and promotion to recruit students into technical pathways. He’s interested! He loves the SkillsUSA Creed and was happy to hear that of the 50 students who received mikeroweWORKS travel scholarships to conference last year, four took medals and 13 finished in the top ten of their contests. He also enjoyed hearing from Cameron and friends about the students they’d met that morning from Washington County Technical High School in Hagerstown, Md. The students said what they believe is important is to do something for others and leave the world a better place. I believe Mike Rowe liked that as much as he liked the SkillsUSA Creed.
Mike Cowles chaired the annual meeting of the State Association Directors’ Executive Committee, January 23-26. I was joined by several staff members. The committee devoted much of its agenda to planning the state directors’ summer conference to be held this year in Portland, Maine. We also had a frank discussion on both this year’s national conference registration fee increase and about states signing up under the national liability insurance policy.
We received good feedback on the first draft of the FY14 strategic plan. They were enthusiastic about proposals for outreach such as a monthly e-newsletter to school administrators. They also strongly supported our working to engage with state departments of education to make SkillsUSA a priority. They want us to emphasize the importance of training advisors in chapter management when we meet with departments of education and state CTE directors. There was also a great deal of interest in cross-walking SkillsUSA curriculum to the Common Core Standards. They specifically recommended an instructor guide on how the Professional Development Program can reinforce teaching the Common Core. Speaking of core, they recommended that SkillsUSA develop an easily understood framework that helps teachers deliver the SkillsUSA core program that creates student success. They were enthusiastic about the Skills Build America individual giving campaign saying they want to be more involved and do more to promote it at the state level.
Thanks go to all involved and particularly for the chair leadership of Ohio state association director, Mike Cowles.
SkillsUSA sponsors a national recognition program based on the Student2Student mentoring program. Any chapter involved in mentoring can submit its project plan, description and outcomes. The winning chapter will be given a cash prize, recognized at the National Leadership and Skills Conference, in Awards and Recognition booklet and at an event during the conference. In addition, the overall winning chapter will be invited to present its winning mentoring program as a part of SkillsUSA University. For more information, go to: www.skillsusa.org/educators/mentrecog.shtml. All entries must be submitted online to the national office by April 4. Winners will be announced in May.
SkillsUSA is excited to announce Aggreko as a new official partner and they have an exciting opportunity for our SkillsUSA members. Aggreko, the global leader in providing temporary power generation, temperature control, and oil-free compressed air systems, has partnered with the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT) to offer an exclusive opportunity to a select group of SkillsUSA’s mechanically gifted students.
This opportunity, called the Aggreko SelecTech Accelerated Career Program, is a two year rotational program that allows program members to earn valuable experience working on state of the art industrialized equipment while earning an Associate in Applied Science degree in Diesel and Heavy Equipment Mechanics from OSUIT. The two-year, trimester-based program consists of equal parts coursework at OSUIT in Okmulgee, Oklahoma and paid internships at Aggreko facilities and events throughout the U.S., including near their hometown. If you have students who would be interested or if you would like more information, please contact Devin Murphy at devin.murphy@aggreko.com or call him at 281-985-8241 (office) or 832-627-4352 (cell).
The SkillsUSA Alumni and Friends Association is sponsoring an alumni pin design contest. The winning design will become the official alumni pin for the 2013 National Leadership and Skills Conference. The deadline for pin designs to be received by the national office is February 28. Designs must be received, not postmarked by February 28, and those submitting designs must be registered alumni members.
If you have any questions, please contact Heidi Walsh at hwalsh@skillsusa.org or call 703-737-0615. For more information and contest guidelines, go to: www.skillsusa.org/supporters/alumni.shtml.
If you would like to nominate someone for SkillsUSA’s national Honorary Life Membership or Outstanding Career and Technical Educator, please submit your nomination by going to the following assigned links and completing the online application.
The deadline for both applications is February 18.
To nominate someone for Outstanding Educator, visit: www.skillsusa.org/educators/outstandinged.shtml. For Honorary Life, visit: www.skillsusa.org/about/honlife.shtml.
If you have any questions, please contact Marsha Daves via email – mdaves@skillsusa.org or by phone – 703-737-0605.
The Alumni Coordinating Committee is offering an incentive for SkillsUSA advisors who sign up alumni from their chapters. For every five members an advisor registers with the SkillsUSA Alumni & Friends Association, he or she will be entered into a drawing for a $100 Lowe’s gift card.
To be officially entered into the drawing, the advisor must have students register online at: www.skillsusa.org/supporters/alumnijoin.shtml. (Paper forms will not be accepted.) The advisor must then send an email to Byekwaso Gilbert at bgilbert@skillsusa.org. The email must contain all of the following:
Remember that graduating seniors qualify to register during their senior year. Former SkillsUSA students are also eligible, provided they are not members already. These students must register through their former advisor to be counted as part of that advisor’s entry. Students may only register once. Deadline for entry into the drawing is June 1.
It’s February, so it’s CTE Month once again, a time for all ten of the career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) and related professional associations to talk about the value of career and technical education.
SkillsUSA Week is Feb. 10-16. SkillsUSA Week is a fantastic way to highlight all the great things your state association and chapters are doing. We have a lot of great resources on our website to help you plan activities for the week. Be sure and visit www.skillsusa.org/educators/skillsusaweek.shtml for tools to celebrate and publicize career and technical education. ACTE also has many resources to help you celebrate CTE Month at: www.acteonline.org.
When President Obama visited the campus of Northern Virginia Community College in June of 2011, he highlighted the importance of CTE for our country, and described it as the backbone of our nation.
He said, “I see a United States where this nation is able to out-compete every country on Earth, where we continue to be the world’s engine for innovation and discovery. I see a future where we train workers who make things here in the United States, and continue a important and honorable tradition of folks working with their hands, creating value, not just shuffling paper. That’s part of what has built the American Dream.”
That’s what we represent and what we stand for. What are you going to do for SkillsUSA Week?
