- We held our second-to-last National Leadership and Skills Conference staff meeting on May 11. Registration is up over last year in many of the states. We have 16 new exhibitors and the outdoor booth space for TECHSPO is sold out. SkillsUSA University boasts 74 sessions, and the alumni association is counting on 41 volunteers and 21 alumni attending conference for training. All in all, it appears this is shaping up to be a great national conference.
- The meeting with the NCCER Board of Trustees mentioned in a prior post went very well. I was pleased to meet with many of the nation’s largest contractors. NCCER will be chairing our Carpentry contest.
- On May 13 and 14, we had representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture here. They were conducting an assessment of the USDA grant SkillsUSA received from the Rural Development Office to provide PDP Online to select rural communities. The program is complete and the USDA representatives said they liked what we’d done.
- The Skill Connect Assessments continue to generate interest in industry and elsewhere. They were the subject of a conference call with Job Corps representatives yesterday. Also, during the week of May 10th, we had a visit with NIMS (National Institute of Metalworking Skills) which has an interest in co-branding, and the chairman of Adayana visited on May 13 to express his interest in using the assessments abroad.
- We’re getting ready for a large number of VIP visits to national conference by both public- and private sector guests. We’ve been preparing itineraries to make sure our guests see and hear everything possible during their times with us.
Highlights
June 1st, 2010Highlights
April 1st, 2010- The final membership count won’t be official until April, but as of March 24, we have already exceeded last year’s total paid membership by 4,800 members! That means SkillsUSA will have another record-breaking membership year. Congratulations and thanks to all of the state association directors for making this possible.
- National staff is definitely on the road visiting the states. I just mentioned my recent visits to Georgia and Wyoming. Other staff members have recently visited – or will soon visit – Vermont, Texas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, California, Missouri, Florida and North Dakota. Every visit is a joy.
- And, finally, I’d like to conclude with 12 highlights from the FY10 second quarter shared with the board last week:
- Membership at an all-time high of 311,079 (including alumni)
- Engineering Alliance launched February 22
- Alumni membership grew to over 8,600
- 27 Skill Connect Assessments with 19 on deck and the vulnerable community report complete
- Final Technical Advisory Committee meeting for Champions for Change held at OVAE and third-party report given
- Staff realignment to better focus staff efforts
- Lowe’s Campus Improvement and Community Service grants announced
- All levels of PDP Online are complete
- Newell-Rubbermaid support for ASK and ASK launch
- 12 State Farm Sustainability Showcase grants announced
- Teacher, state director and student Webinars held
- Inclusion and diversity training for staff and national officers
See PDP as Never Before
January 15th, 2010All levels of the all-new version of PDP Online are now available. This includes, for the first time online, the SkillsUSA competencies. The SkillsUSA student competencies feature 20 SkillsUSA-related competencies, plus the guidelines for completing the American Degree.
PDP Online is an exciting way for your students to connect to their careers, their communities and their futures. With content that now matches the latest printed edition, it’s a flexible way for students to build the career-enhancement skills they’ll need to succeed. For more information and to see a demonstration, go to www.skillsusa.org/educators/pdponline.shtml.
PDP Online Web Conference Archive
October 15th, 2009SkillsUSA held a national Web Conference to demonstrate the all new PDP Online on October 14, 2009. Here is the link for the Web conference archive. Go to www.skillsusa.org/educators/index.shtml#pdp.
PDP Online Web Conference URL Correction
October 1st, 2009SkillsUSA has scheduled a national Web Conference to demonstrate the all new PDP Online. Join us on October 14, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. (EST). Please invite your key advisors or others to participate. The URL published previously has changed. Please use this one.
Please join us by Web conference:
Meeting URL: http://web.ganconference.com/?meeting=3D9849321
Telephone: 888-222-0475
Participant access code: 6837807
When: October 14, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. (EST)
Please join us by Web conference:
Meeting URL: http://web.ganconference.com/?meeting=9849321
Telephone: 888-222-0475
Participant access code: 6837807
When: October 14, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. (EST)
If you have questions or need more information, contact Marsha Daves at 703-737-0605 or mdaves@skillsusa.org or Heidi Ambrose at 703-737-0615 or hambrose@skillsusa.org.
