On March 2, we were back at OVAE, this time for the last Technical Advisory Committee meeting for Champions for Change. Fifteen of the committee members asttended including board member Wayne Kutzer and state association director from Massachusetts, Karen Ward. Dr. Sharon Miller, director, Division of Academic and Technical Education, spoke to the group and encouraged SkillsUSA to “get the word out” about the Skill Connect Assessments. She said they’re needed, and there is a great deal of interest in assessments right now, particularly in common core academics and technical standard assessments.
Glenn Cummings, deputy assistant secretary at OVAE, had visited with the NCC-CTSO group and mentioned specifically the great experience he had with our students at WLTI. Glenn also visited individually with all of the technical advisory committee members during lunch. We plan to conduct a demonstration of the Skill Connect Assessments in his office in the near future, and we’re inviting him to speak during conference.
The afternoon featured a third-party evaluation report by Melinda Findley Lloyd on progress at the vulnerable community sites. The testimony of the young people – and the teachers – is a powerful endorsement of the difference SkillsUSA’s programs and approach can make in people’s lives. In many instances, young people’s involvement in SkillsUSA gave them something they hadn’t had before: hope.
