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March 15th, 2012
Nearly 80 SkillsUSA Championships technical committee chairs and members attended meetings on February 29 – March 1 in Louisville, Ky., in preparation for the move of the National Leadership and Skills Conference from Kansas City in 2015. This was our first face-to-face pre-conference meeting in quite some time. For the past few years, technical committee members have held webinars because they know the layout in Kansas City. In this instance, they got to explore.
An essential part of the meetings was a tour of the Kentucky Exposition Center. Committee members were impressed by the space. They liked the plan to group contests into occupational clusters. One of the committee members said: “That’ll be good for the industry.” Staff also took the opportunity to review the Championships Technical Standards, policies, operations and judging with new and “seasoned” committee members.
Tags: NLSC, SkillsUSA Championships
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December 1st, 2011
Because Kansas City will be hosting the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2012 and the schedule conflicted with the annual conference schedule,
SkillsUSA has agreed to move the National Leadership and Skills Conference up by a couple of days in 2012 only. Following is the revised schedule for NLSC 2012.
48th NLSC – Kansas City, Mo – June 23-27, 2012.
So, the 2012 NLSC schedule will be from Saturday to Wednesday. This means
- The Opening Ceremony will be held on Monday, June 25
- The SkillsUSA Championships will be held Monday and -Tuesday, June 25-26
- The Awards Ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 27.
For the NLSC 2012 condensed agenda, go to: www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscagenda.shtml.
Tags: NLSC, SkillsUSA Championships
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October 15th, 2011
Last year we changed the technical standards to be valid for two years. These standards are the result of many hours of work from a collaboration of industry partners, subject matter experts and SkillsUSA staff who worked diligently to create a user‑friendly product. The standards provide our chapters and students with an up‑to‑date official competition guide for both the 2011 and 2012 SkillsUSA Championships. We will post changes to any of the contests on our website Contest Updates page.
The CD‑ROM package, including the standards, an information piece, a poster and 2011 contest projects, can be purchased for $19.95 through the SkillsUSA online catalog at: www.skillsusa.org/store/contests.html. Contest singles cost $10.95 each and include the 2011 contest project (if available). If you purchased the two CD‑Rom package last year, you need only purchase the 2011 contest projects as a single CD for $15.95 ea.
Upon request, we are also offering a 606‑page, perfect‑bound book version for $32.95, plus shipping and handling. To purchase this printed version through the online catalog, look beneath the listing for the CD‑ROM package and locate the blue and yellow “LuLu button.” This button will take you to LuLu.com to place your order. To further our efforts to produce more eco‑friendly materials, we’ve chosen LuLu to deliver this on‑demand printed version. Delivery time is approximately three to five days, depending on the selected delivery option. Please know the book version of the technical standards does not contain the 2011 SkillsUSA Championships contest projects.
Tags: Contest Projects, Contest Singles, Contests, SkillsUSA Championships
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October 14th, 2011
Because Kansas City will be hosting the Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in 2012 and the schedule conflicted with the annual conference schedule, SkillsUSA has agreed to move the National Leadership and Skills Conference up by a couple of days in 2012 only. Following is the revised schedule for NLSC 2012.
48th NLSC – Kansas City, Mo – June 23-27, 2012. This means the 2012 NLSC schedule will be from Saturday to Wednesday. This means the Opening Ceremony will be held on Monday, June 25, the SkillsUSA Championships will be held Monday and -Tuesday, June 25-26, and the Awards Ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 27.
Tags: NLSC, SkillsUSA Championships
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October 14th, 2011
Relive the excitement of the 2011 Week of Champions! The 2011 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference DVD is now available. Use it to share the memories with your students or friends. The DVD is organized in chapters for each major NLSC event so it can easily be divided into instructional topics. The DVD is $14.95. To order, call 800-321-8422 or go to www.skillsusa.org/store/dvd.html.
Tags: NLSC, SkillsUSA Championships, SkillsUSA National Conference Souvenir DVD
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September 15th, 2011
We had a great meeting with Kelly Persons, Shannon Delp, Greg Palese and Troy Dally at Lowe’s on August 24. In addition to a discussion of how things went at this year’s national conference and initiatives for next year, we also had an extensive discussion of how to involve more vendor partners through the Championships, TECHSPO and “lunch and learn” sessions hosted by partners. Along those lines, Electrolux had four corporate representatives at a breakfast meeting with us. Kelly Persons encouraged their greater involvement in the Championships and to join the YDF. There were also outstanding presentations by two of our new student national officers: Victoria Holbert, high school division president and Diego Carvallo, high school division Region II vice president. There was a great dialogue session among the students and the Electrolux executives, and the students provided input throughout the meetings.
Tags: Lowe's, NLSC, Partner News, SkillsUSA Championships, TECHSPO
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August 15th, 2011
- On August 1, Phil and Vickie Cronin from Iowa were here to claim their SkillsUSA membership mega prize: a trip to a Washington National’s baseball game. And, it was more than just the game. We were in the N.E.W. Customer Service Companies suite overlooking home plate. We began with a tour of the National Leadership Center and a reception before boarding the bus for Washington accompanied by 12 staff members. Phil has been a construction technology teacher for 34 years and has taken his SkillsUSA membership from 15 when he started to 100 percent of the students in the school. YDF member Bill Maddox from N.E.W. was our generous host.
- Toward the end of July, I received a short report on the 10th annual Timberland PRO community service day held during this year’s conference. There are some impressive numbers here. A total of 385 volunteers planted 125 fruit trees and 40 blueberry bushes in an urban orchard. In addition, 1,500 backpack kits were stuffed to feed community children. And, 300 students won free footwear. That’s pretty neat too.
- Wel have surveyed the National Education Team and the Championships technical committees. There were approximately 10 questions on each survey. The final results will be released later, but the answers to two of the questions from the technical committee survey jumped out at me. When asked if the membership of the 2011 national technical committee reflects a variety of leading companies in their industry, 71 percent strongly agreed and 24 percent agreed. When asked if the 2011 contests reflect current industry expectations for the skills and competencies of an entry-level worker in their occupational specialty, 73 percent strongly agreed and 24 percent agreed.
- Letters accompanying the state press releases on Championships medalists and Skill Connect recipients have been faxed to all the members of Congress who had constituent winners. They’ve also gone to the governors and state CTE directors. We’ve been getting good responses from both Congress and governors requesting home addresses so they can send letters of congratulations. It makes a difference sending the letters before the congressional recess.
- And, we’re getting ready for the State Association Directors Annual Professional Development & Training Conference and site visit in Louisville, Ky., August 15-20. I’m pleased to say that as of today, we have 46 state directors attending. That would be our largest turnout in quite some time. The officers have put together a great program. The Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau has been very supportive and has planned some great activities for the directors.
Tags: Advisor Mega Prizes, Highlights, National Education Team, NLSC, Partner News, SkillsUSA Championships, State Directors, Timberland
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August 14th, 2011
The 2011-12 SkillsUSA membership kits have been mailed to all chapters that affiliated with SkillsUSA last year. Extra kits will be mailed to all state offices soon. The kit includes enrollment instructions, programs, scholarship and recognition opportunities, membership cards, a recruitment poster, a SkillsUSA Creed poster, an affiliation sticker and fliers on the Work Force Ready System and new products. The kit also includes the 2012 SkillsUSA Championships overview flier. This year’s membership incentive is the book, “Leveraging Your Leadership through Effective Chapter Meetings,” for all chapters that register 20 or more students plus one professional, by the November 15 full services deadline.
Tags: Membership, SkillsUSA, SkillsUSA Championships, Work Force Ready System
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August 1st, 2011
- On July 21, I had dinner with our new student officer team. They were just beginning nine days of training at the National Conference Center in Ashburn, Va. This is a great group of students. They’re diverse, highly qualified and they’ve already got their hands around their leadership skills.
- On the morning of July 18, I attended a meeting at The Manufacturing Institute of the partners in the Skills for America’s Future Program announced by President Obama in June. The meeting was hosted by YDF member, Emily DeRocco. We discussed a job-match service being provided by The White House to manufacturing and education to pull qualified workers into partnering manufacturing companies. We also started to develop our work plans and the quarterly reporting process. SkillsUSA will be working with Air Products to recruit students to manufacturing careers and to bring more partners to the process.
- In the afternoon I met with Bradley Hull, deputy executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). Brad told me that NASBE had identified five organizations they want to work with on advocacy initiatives and SkillsUSA is one of them. His particular interest is in finding a common voice for the arts and career and technical education because we face some common challenges including being among the “first to get cut” when school budgets are tight. Our discussions will continue.
- July 12-14, I was in Atlanta conducting SkillsUSA Georgia High School Division board training and strategic planning. State association director, Gayle Silvey, has a great board and together I believe they came up with a good plan with attainable goals. While there, I also attended the Georgia ACTE Conference and met with all of the Georgia construction teachers. SkillsUSA’s great friend, “Sonny” Cannon, was presented with the Outstanding Educator of the Year Award just prior to his retirement. Sonny leaves a legacy including business foundations to support CTE and the model of how to use our national conference as a VIP event to capture industry and policy maker attention.
- The news coverage keeps coming in. We’ve now received a final report on news coverage in the greater-Kansas City area and we’re up to 85 stories. We were on the front page of the Kansas City Star twice. The “Money Pit” radio show (syndicated on 250 stations nationwide) aired on July 18 and featured interviews with John Gaal, former SkillsUSA board member from ACTE and the Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis, two national student officers, Mike Rowe and me. To listen to the broadcast, go to this link.
- Speaking of Mike Rowe, SkillsUSA is featured on the mikerowWORKS website with information on the scholarship winners from this year’s conference, and they’ve posted video streaming from the Collision Repair Technology contest area by Collisionhub. The host was Bob Medved of State Farm Insurance. To see the news and the videos, please go to: www.mikeroweworks.com/2011/07/bob-medved-interviews-pablo-fuentes-ceo-of-workers-now-at-skillsusa/. There’s also a video of Tina White of mikeroweWORKS. And, SkillsUSA also received a mention on the CNN Money/Fortune site in relation to Proven.com. The link here is: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/21/social-networking-for-bricklayers/.
- As mentioned earlier, the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education consortium (NASDCTEc) has been working for nearly a year on a new brand for CTE. Mark Williams, our new board member from NASDCTEc, introduced the new brand during the Call to Action session in Kansas City. SkillsUSA has been helping on the communications advisory committee (Tom Holdsworth was recently a co-presenter with the president of the PR firm that developed the brand) and the state directors’ website has now been updated. The slogan is CTE: Learning that Works for America. Presentations, talking points and other supporting materials for the initiative can be found at www.careertech.org under the tab “resources.”
- The Association of Career and Technical Education released a paper on how career and technical education student organizations (CTSOs) expand career readiness for students. The July 6 ACTE news release says: ”National dialogue has escalated around the concepts of college and career readiness, but most of the focus has been on academic skills alone. Th[is] paper . . . concentrates on how elements of the CTE system support students’ academic, technical and employability skill development.” Among the bullet points: “Students who participate in CTSOs demonstrate higher levels of academic engagement and motivation, civic engagement, career self-efficacy, and employability skills than other students, and the more students participate in CTSO activities, the better the results.” The paper is available at: www.acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_Online_Media/files/CTSO_Career_Readiness.pdf. We’re pleased that the photo right up top is from the SkillsUSA conference this year.
- Planning is already under way for the 2012 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. We held our post-conference meeting on the 19th and we’re pulling together the top-ten list for improvements. On the 21st, staff was in Richmond, Va. to meet with the design team for TeamWorks to create the state association-level contest and our championships director is pulling together all the information and data he’ll need to take to the state association directors at their meeting in August to determine official and demonstration contests for 2012.
- And, finally, here’s a story from Springfield, Mo. about two Ozarks Technical Community College culinary students who were invited to cook for Sheryl Crow and her band along with her private chef just because they’d been in the SkillsUSA Championships. I just think that’s kind of neat. To view the story, go to www.news-leader.com/article/20110715/NEWS04/107150363/Students-OTC-cook-Crow-band?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE.
Tags: ACTE, Government Relations, Highlights, Media Relations, Mike Rowe, NASDCTEc, National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of State Boards of Education, Podcast, SkillsUSA Championships, The Money Pit, Youth Development Foundation
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July 31st, 2011
The SkillsUSA competition theme for the 2011-12 year is:
SkillsUSA: Champions at Work
Skilled and Motivated
The topic to be addressed by contestants in the Chapter Display, Prepared Speech and Promotional Bulletin Board contests is how our slogan, SkillsUSA: Champions at Work, relates to our national program of work in the area of Professional Development.
Within this topic, contestants might illustrate or discuss any of the following:
- How does participation in SkillsUSA increases student motivation for success?
- How do SkillsUSA’s Championships provide students an opportunity to showcase their technical and professional skills?
- How does involvement in SkillsUSA increase America’s competitive edge in the global economy?
- How does participation in SkillsUSA give students hope for their future?
- What activities in SkillsUSA assist students in mastering technical skills?
- How does SkillsUSA train a motivated workforce?
- How do SkillsUSA’s partnerships with business and industry ensure that students are prepared for tomorrow’s workplace?
- What opportunities does SkillsUSA provide to celebrate and honor student achievement?
- How does involvement in SkillsUSA keep students in school?
- How does involvement in SkillsUSA inspire students to continue life-long learning?
- How does participation in SkillsUSA assist students in finding their passion?
- How does participation in SkillsUSA motivate students to pursue their career dreams?
- What strategies does SkillsUSA use to promote student success?
Tags: SkillsUSA Championships, Theme
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