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October 15th, 2010
- I recently returned from the Virginia State Fair where state association director Dave Rathbone and the state association had its highest student participation ever with over 500 students attending and competing in several contests from masonry to culinary arts. This competition has become the largest youth activity at the Virginia State Fair and serves as an excellent way to showcase our students’ skills to the general public.
- On September 29, I attended the Pennsylvania District 11 Leadership by Example Award Breakfast in Bethlehem, Pa. I helped celebrate the 25th anniversary of the SkillsUSA Industry Council that now boasts 100 companies supporting the SkillsUSA chapters in the Lehigh Valley. It was great to see Bob Black, industry representative and chair of the Lehigh Industry Council, being honored as the 2010 Leader by Example.
- Thanks to Toyota Motor Sales USA and YDF member Dave Camden, we recently received word that a brand new 2011 red Toyota Sienna van donation to SkillsUSA has arrived at the Toyota dealership in Leesburg, Va. Because of Toyota’s generous support, SkillsUSA will now have an official vehicle to use for VIP pickups, student tours and staff travel. We’re really looking forward to it.
- Our total participation membership contracts are complete and membership is coming in. We’re seeing a boost in early membership numbers and, as of today, we are approximately 9,900 over the same day last year. We are again cautiously optimistic about another positive year of participation.
- I recently returned from Manchester, N.H. where I attended a STEM conference and Chicago where I attended Graphics EXPO. We honored our national student champions and our graphics industry partners at this event.
- On a sad note, we lost a great champion on September 20, 2010. Pat Richard, former chapter advisor and state association director in Virginia, lost her battle with cancer. I attended Pat’s memorial service. She was laid to rest in her red blazer with all her student award pins and her state director name badge on her lapel. She will be missed by students, teachers, family and SkillsUSA.
Tags: Highlights, Partner News, YDF
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October 1st, 2010
- On September 7, three representatives of organized labor met with us here at the national center. The thrust of the meeting was to explore ways the AFL-CIO and SkillsUSA could be working together more closely, particularly, in image building for the skilled trades and recruitment of our students into apprenticeships. As they said: “These are the people we want to hire.” Leading the meeting was Robert J. Pleasure, special assistant to the president of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. He was joined by Eric L. Packard, training specialist with the UA (United Association of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters) and our old friend, Rick Sullivan, from the Ironworkers. The meeting began with a presentation by two of our national student officers, Robin Cronbaugh, Region V vice president, and Sam Soto, college/postsecondary president.
- The National Coordinating Council for the Career and Technical Student Organizations met in Reston, Va. on September 15. Included with the regular business meeting was a special presentation on social networking called “socialnomics.” We know that as student organizations, we have a lot to consider with social networking as a way to reach students, but also to protect our brand. It was a great presentation by ACTE (Association for Career and Technical Education) and FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America). Other SkillsUSA staff attended the session as well.
- We’re working on our Vision 2020 goal of reaching one million people per year. I spoke recently with Richard Grimsley of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and Rosanne White of the Technology Student Organization about marketing for Engineering Alliance (EA). PLTW has a goal of reaching into 15,000 middle and high schools by 2015. If EA takes off, SkillsUSA will be connected to those schools too.
- On September 10, YDF member Bill Maddox of N.E.W. took a group of our staff members to a Washington Nationals baseball game, and we got to watch from the N.E.W. suite at the ballpark. Bill is looking to secure the box for next season to offer it as a SkillsUSA membership mega prize.
- The SkillsUSA CEO Champion of the Year dinner is shaping up nicely and the pledges are coming in. The award is going to be special too. The design is based on the SkillsUSA Championships gold medallion. I’m looking forward to the presentation.
- SkillsUSA WorldTeam is coming together as well. Our goal is to compete in 20 contests, so that means 22 students will fill out the team for 2011. We have 16 selected thus far. News releases should be going out by early October.
- Staff reports alumni membership has now reached 17,000 and four states – New York, Texas, Maine and Ohio – have held meetings to establish state alumni associations.
- Staff reports that the Work Force Ready System Web site had been updated and made more customer-friendly. He says several states have inquired about state purchases of assessments for both pre- and post-testing and that we’re now offering more extensive state reporting.
- And, we just finished the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI), and it was a huge success. We had about 240 people registered including 151 student leaders, 73 instructors and 12 SkillsUSA state association directors. Board President Russ Hoffbauer joined the national officers and me on visits in Washington. I’ll be reporting more extensively about WLTI next time.
Tags: ACTE, Alumni, CEO Champion of the Year, CTSOs, Engineering Alliance, FCCLA, Highlights, Project Lead the Way, TSA, Vision 2020, WLTI, Work Force Ready System, WorldTeam
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September 15th, 2010
- I’m pleased to report that colleges have been ordering Skill Connect Assessments to use as pre-tests this fall. That’s a promising trend. And, as school begins this year, we have 44 assessments to offer, whereas last year at this time, we had only eight. Our latest assessments include engineering technology and customer service, and they are getting a lot of attention.
- The FY10 strategic goal for alumni membership has been well exceeded and we’re pleased to announce that our alumni membership now stands at over 17,000. Several states are working to set up state alumni associations. Having a full-time alumni coordinator is paying off! Thanks again to Air Products and Lowe’s for their support to make this milestone possible.
- And, here’s a surprising figure: staff reported during our staff meeting on August 24 that if the 2011-12 SkillsUSA Championships Contest Projects were printed, they would run to 1,900 pages. My how we’ve grown.
- FY10 ended on August 31, and we’re finalizing August financials and preparing for the end-of-year audit. Staff just completed inventory and auditors were here last week reviewing product numbers and sales figures.
Tags: Alumni, Highlights, NLSC, Partner News, Skill Connect Assessments, SkillsUSA Championships, Work Force Ready System
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September 1st, 2010
- On Friday, August 13, during the state association directors’ conference, Laurie Gostley-Hackett, manager of philanthropy and community relations at Air Products, presented a check for $100,000 on behalf of Air Products to SkillsUSA. I updated the group on our plans to honor John McGlade, chairman, president, and CEO of Air Products during the inaugural CEO Champion of the Year Award dinner. Air Products will be the dinner host at the Waldorf-Astoria on October 18. I also told them we have plans to stream the event live on the Internet so every state association can be involved. Laurie’s passion for SkillsUSA was obvious. I’m pleased to say that both Toyota and Snap-on have also pledged support for the dinner. A list of high-level dinner attendees will be compiled to help generate excitement and we hope we will encourage CEOs and executives of other current SkillsUSA partners to attend. Formal invitations will be sent via e-mail by September. Questions and requests for more information can be directed to Chris Powell at cpowell@skillsusa.org or 703-737-0621.
- We’ve finished faxing the lists of Championships medalists to Congress and to the governors. We’ve received a lot of requests for home addresses already and expect more will be coming. And, we’re well underway for the Washington Leadership Training Institute this month.
- Staff had a great chapter management workshop in Annapolis with a group of advisors new to SkillsUSA in Maryland. State Association Director Chuck Wallace set everything up.
- I recently returned from Bristol, Tenn., where I attended the IRWIN Bristol Night Race with Board Member Nick Morrisroe and I had a great time.
- And, last week I attended the Youth Development Foundation meeting hosted by Delmar, Cengage Learning in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Tags: Government Relations, Highlights, Partner News, SkillsUSA Championships, WLTI, Youth Development Foundation
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August 15th, 2010
- On July 30, staff directors held an off-site retreat just across the river in Maryland to prepare for activities beginning this fall with particular emphasis on membership and marketing. We began with a Vision 2020 discussion and moved through funding priorities, the CEO Champion of the Year initiative and SkillsUSA WorldTeam. We’ve got a good management team with lots of ideas.
- The State Association Director Annual Professional Development and Training Conference was just held in Herndon, Va. on August 10-15. New state association directors arrived on Tuesday, August 10, and began their training that evening. Experienced directors arrived on August 11. They had a packed schedule with lots of best practice sessions on association management. We had seven new directors attending, and 41 directors and assistant directors in all, and 34 state associations were represented.
- We recently held a meeting at the center with E-Group to compare notes on the SkillsUSA Store at conference and to prepare for this coming fall. There have also been lots of meetings preparing for the Washington Leadership Training Institute.
Tags: CEO Champion of the Year, E-Group, Highlights, WLTI, WorldTeam
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August 1st, 2010
- I’m pleased to report that SkillsUSA’s board of directors is now at full strength. Robert Wagner of Lowe’s and Joe Pietrantonio of Air Products complete the industry chairs and Kathryn Manns will now fill the chair for the American Association of Community Colleges. This is going to be quite a board meeting in August.
- We held a post-conference debriefing meeting on July 13 and reviewed departments’ plus-delta reports. We created a top 10 challenges list of items to be overcome by next year’s conference, but – in the main – staff seems to believe that the conference went very well.
- On July 20, SkillsUSA staff, by invitation, attended a high-level meeting at the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers. The subject was industry’s concern on how it can excite American youth about manufacturing careers. They said manufacturing needs to rebrand itself. Participants also discussed the need for an umbrella organization to promote manufacturing careers to young people and to focus the message. The next phase of the discussion will be on message coordination. More meetings are planned.
- The Virginia state officer team was here at the National Leadership Center on July 17 along with state director Dave Rathbone. On the 14th, we had a meeting with Microsoft consultants to talk about much needed upgrades to our software and the server.
- And, on the 28th, I met with union executives at AFL-CIO headquarters to discuss support for the SkillsUSA WorldTeam.
Tags: American Association of Community Colleges, Board of Directors, Highlights, NLSC, State News, State Officers, WorldTeam
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July 15th, 2010
- The week before conference I attended a National Journal Policy Summit on the changing demographics of a new generation at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The underwriter was the Society for Human Resource Management and attendance was by invitation only. The focus was on how the current generation entering the work force will be the most diverse in our history, and the question was how the change in demographics will affect higher education and the labor force. We were told our remarks were on the record, and I was the only person there talking about CTE as part of the solution. I received two follow-up calls from attendees asking for more information, and that was even before I got to conference.
- At the end of June, we received news that three SkillsUSA projects had received Awards of Excellence in the annual APEX program. APEX awards are based on excellence in graphic design, editorial content and the success of the entries in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence. SkillsUSA’s communications are in the same league as those of many national associations, major corporations and communications firms. (Other winners include Time Inc., Ford Motor Co., FedEx Express, Walt Disney Co. and Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc.). Our staff won recognition in these categories: Electronic and Video Publications/Education and Training: Advisor’s Success Kit (ASK) – Tools for SkillsUSA Chapter Management, by Ann Schreiber; — Electronic and Video Publications/Social Media: SkillsUSA’s Facebook Page, by Craig Moore; and, Magazines and Journals/Print: SkillsUSA Champions, by Tom Hall and staff. (Our magazine has won an Award of Excellence for seven consecutive years.)
Tags: APEX Awards, Career and Technical Education, Highlights
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June 15th, 2010
- Just a few National Leadership and Skills Conference numbers: the most recent VIP guest list includes nearly 250 people and it seems more keep coming all the time; we have 9,759 registered teachers and students, an increase over last year and we’re up to 5,661 contestants. The truck is packed and leaves today on its way to conference.
- State Association Directors are encouraged to attend a special WorldSkills session on Thursday during NLSC. The meeting will be held at 11 a.m. in Bartle Hall, Room 2208. Simon Bartley, Chief Executive of the UK Skills and WorldSkills London will be giving an overview of plans for the 2011 WSC in London and Jon Gonzalez will discuss funding initiatives. Staff will provide information on the new team selection process and provide an update on WorldTeam members selected so far. The meeting should last approximately 30-34 minutes.
- Staff has arranged two new events for business partners to meet during conference. One is a town hall-style meeting for current and prospective business and industry partners on how to derive the most benefit from a partnership with SkillsUSA. A panel of representatives from SkillsUSA’s leading business partners will conduct the discussion on Thursday, June 24, at 2 p.m., in Bartle Hall Room 2209. Second, We have also added a new SkillsUSA University session to help current and prospective partners learn best practices to get the most out of their partnership with SkillsUSA. Lynn Scheitrum of Air Products has agreed to moderate. This will be a good session for companies that are attending national conference for the first time, likewise for any prospective partners that state directors or others may plan to host during conference.
- And, Kelly Horton has officially started work here and joined us as our new director of Membership, Marketing and Sales.
Tags: Highlights, NLSC, Partner News, SkillsUSA University, Staff News, State Directors, WorldTeam
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May 1st, 2010
- On April 16, I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania where I had a great time at the 44th annual SkillsUSA Pennsylvania State Conference. State Association Director Jeri Widdowson told me this was the largest conference held in the state since she became director. There were 1,400 registrants, but with volunteers she’s estimating there were 2,000 people in attendance. They had great competitions and some wonderful teachers. I shook hands with every medalist, and I also had a chance to visit with another champion, board of directors member, Gerald Tylka.
- There’s a lot of movement in career and technical education (CTE) to capture a common vision of the role played by CTE in education and preparation for employment. As a matter of fact, there’s a lot of discussion that education, as a whole, should start to take on more aspects of CTE. That means students should be “college ready” (not requiring remediation at the postsecondary level) and “career ready” among many other things. The National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) has released a vision paper for the field, and I believe it is worthy of a great deal of discussion. The link to read it is http://careertech.org/show/new_vision.
- The week of April 12th, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) released a two-page definition of “Career Ready.” They say career readiness involves three major skill areas: academic skills (and the ability to apply those skills to concrete situations), employability skills and technical, job-specific skills. It’s an excellent addition to the discussion and certainly makes the case for CTE’s role in education overall, and by inference, the value of the student organizations. To give it a review, just click on http://acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_Online_Media/files/Career_Readiness_Paper.pdf.
Tags: ACTE, Career and Technical Education, Highlights, NASDCTEc, State Conferences
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March 15th, 2010
- The rescheduled Advisor’s Success Kit (ASK) Webinar was held on February 25. We had good participation, and the presentation is archived for others to view.
- On February 26, staff met to prepare for the upcoming National Leadership and Skills Conference. Among the numbers reported: the Championships will have 96 contests adding 170 additional contestants and putting the projected total of contestants at 5,500 (twice the number of contestants at the recent Winter Olympics); will be in 33 hotels this year, up five from last year; and, TECHSPO is up $20,000 in booth sales over last year at this time.
- And, staff did a great job of running a webinar on inclusion and diversity for the national officers before they start heading out to spring conferences. The national officers not only liked it, they appreciated it.
Tags: ASK, Highlights, Inclusion and Diversity, NLSC, SkillsUSA Championships, TECHSPO, Web Conference
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