Even though SkillsUSA returns to Kansas City June 20-25, 2010 for the 46th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), the first conference of this decade opens with a new schedule. For the first time ever, our Opening Ceremony and the official opening of the SkillsUSA Championships are being combined. All the excitement of both events will take place on Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm at Kemper Arena. The Champions Festival will be held on Tuesday evening in an exciting new venue. Delegations should still plan to arrive by Monday as the rest of the schedule for the week remains the same.
New Program Director of the SkillsUSA Championships
January 1st, 2010SkillsUSA is delighted to announce the appointment of David Worden as the program director of the national SkillsUSA Championships, replacing Ada Kranenberg, who is retiring after 27 years of dedicated service to SkillsUSA. Dave will begin his duties at SkillsUSA on Monday, January 4.
Dave has served as the national technical committee chairman of our Power Equipment Technology contest since 1994. Dave received SkillsUSA’s prestigious Torch Carrier Award in 2005 and served a term from 2005-2007 as Region III Representative to the SkillsUSA Alumni & Friends Association. Earlier in his career, Dave volunteered with SkillsUSA Massachusetts and served its state-level Championships for 15 years. He also served on advisory councils for career and technical education in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York.
Professionally, Dave has experience as a general manager for Mower MD and enjoyed an eight-year tenure with Kohler Co. in Wisconsin, finishing as a senior training specialist — International. He has been an active member of the Equipment & Engine Training Council, presently serving in a volunteer role as vice president of the EETC board. Dave won the EETC’s Spirit Award earlier this year.
Ada will return to SkillsUSA for the month of January to work side-by-side with Dave during his orientation. Dave’s e-mail at SkillsUSA will be dworden@skillsusa.org and his phone number will be 703-737-0611.
Highlights
November 15th, 2009- On October 21, I met in St. Louis with executives in the Global Opportunities Product Lifecycle Management division of Siemens. The meeting was arranged by board member Cameron Ferguson, Caterpillar, and student national officers Jason Brigner (Region III) and Brandon Mullings (college/postsecondary vice president) made the SkillsUSA presentations to Siemens. We talked about support for the SkillsUSA WorldTeam and getting their support on the Youth Development Foundation, on Championships technical committees and providing subject matter experts for engineering assessments in the Work Force Ready System. They’re very interested in giving software grants to schools.
- We signed an agreement with GAERF (Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation) to offer five co-branded PrintED/SkillsUSA Skill Connect assessments. The five are graphic communications, advertising design, screen printing, digital file preparation/digital file output and offset press operations/binding and finishing. News releases and official announcements are still being prepared. We’re very enthusiastic about this partnership because we are partnering with THE organization that certifies instructional programs and is recognized by the graphics/printing industry.
- My trip to California on October 16 and 17 went well. I worked with the California board on board training, state association policy and worked with them on strategic planning.
- Development of the instructional program for the Engineering Alliance is going well according to staff. Staff developed the EA logo, and we’re in the process of getting it trademarked.
- According to our marketing director, “Monster Garage” on the Discovery Channel is now talking about having eight SkillsUSA students participate in the programs to be taped at the end of November and possibly airing this coming spring. Thanks go to Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools for making the connections.
- On October 26, staff attended a manufacturing summit in Washington, D.C. hosted by NIMS (National Institute for Metalworking Skills) and the Swiss Embassy. Approximately 80 people attended. A common theme throughout was the frustration of domestic employers – and the disbelief of foreign manufacturers – with the U.S. public education system. “Over and over again we heard: “We want better CTE and we want more CTE.”” Assistant Secretary of Labor Jane Oates spoke during the summit.
- We had a good training seminar on diversity for department directors on October 20 with Ellen Hyslope from Human Resources at Middleburg Bank. Her key message to managers: Make sure you’re focused on creating equal opportunities for all employees.
- The Youth Development Foundation Committee’s spring meeting is scheduled for March 17-18. It will be held here at the national center and there will be a joint session with the board of directors at that same time.
Contest Singles are Available Now!
October 15th, 2009The SkillsUSA Championships Technical Standards have been revised and new rules will be effective at the 2010 Championships. Contest guidelines are included within the 2010 contest singles. The contest singles provide the contest guidelines, helpful hints from some of our technical committee members and the 2009 contest project (if available). Singles are available at www.skillsusa.org/store/singles.html.
Medalist Photos
October 15th, 2009If you are interested in receiving a free digital winners’ photo from the 2009 SkillsUSA Championships, please e-mail Jane Short at jshort@skillsusa.org.
Highlights
September 1st, 2009We held nearly two full-day meetings with intelitek here at the national center to discuss progress on Skill Connect Assessments, including the status of each assessment and the roll out of the next series of tests. There’s no doubt that SkillsUSA is receiving enthusiastic responses from across the country; but, we’re still at work on details for several of the tests to be sure pilot testing is complete in time for projected test launch. We spent most of Thursday working on the business and marketing plans, including staffing. On Wednesday, we had a conference call at the request of a state department of education to answer questions on the delivery of the assessments on a statewide basis.
On August 27, I had a meeting at State Farm, thanks to board member Russ Hoffbauer. New national officers Zia Green and Stephen Lupton accompanied me. I met with Cameron Ferguson and one of Caterpillar’s worldwide talent recruiters for breakfast that morning. And, while I’m mentioning great partnership supporters, staff recently returned from a one-day trip to Allentown, Pa., where they met with executives from Air Products. They said it was a very productive meeting with lots of discussion about alumni membership among many other things.
The letters to Congress and the governors about their SkillsUSA Championships champions and Skill Point Certificate recipients have all been sent, and we’re getting responses asking for student home addresses. We have some state association directors who have caught on that this is a great excuse to pay a visit to the governors’ offices. We love it. SkillsUSA is building networks to support our students all the time.
2009-10 Theme
August 1st, 20092009-10 THEME
The SkillsUSA Championships theme for the 2009-2010 school year is “SkillsUSA: Champions at Work – Connecting the Opportunities.” This is the theme for the Chapter Display, Prepared Speech and Promotional Bulletin Board contests.
Within this topic, contestants might illustrate or discuss any of the following:
How SkillsUSA’s professional development opportunities motivate students to be the best they can be in their technical skill development and in their personal and professional development.
How members grow professionally by connecting with educators, community leaders, and business and industry representatives. SkillsUSA connects students to education and employment opportunities.
How students attending SkillsUSA leadership conferences and competitions develop professionally as they make connections with other students having similar interests. Through SkillsUSA, they network across their state, region and the nation.
How SkillsUSA provides opportunities for students to participate in a balanced program of work in which they can practice and demonstrate leadership, technical skills, teamwork, team building, creativity and management.
How SkillsUSA increases productivity by cultivating a highly skilled and knowledgeable work force to meet 21st century needs.
How SkillsUSA is the national organization for public high school and college/postsecondary technical students enrolled in trade, technical and skilled service profession instructional programs including allied health occupations.
How SkillsUSA participation prepares each member for entry into the work force.
How each SkillsUSA member can demonstrate excellence in career and technical education.
How SkillsUSA represents 130 different occupational areas in its affiliated instructional programs and more than 300,000 high school and college/postsecondary members nationwide.
The SkillsUSA Championships theme for the 2009-2010 school year is “SkillsUSA: Champions at Work – Connecting the Opportunities.” This is the theme for the Chapter Display, Prepared Speech and Promotional Bulletin Board contests.
Within this topic, contestants might illustrate or discuss any of the following:
How SkillsUSA’s professional development opportunities motivate students to be the best they can be in their technical skill development and in their personal and professional development.
How members grow professionally by connecting with educators, community leaders, and business and industry representatives. SkillsUSA connects students to education and employment opportunities.
How students attending SkillsUSA leadership conferences and competitions develop professionally as they make connections with other students having similar interests. Through SkillsUSA, they network across their state, region and the nation.
How SkillsUSA provides opportunities for students to participate in a balanced program of work in which they can practice and demonstrate leadership, technical skills, teamwork, team building, creativity and management.
How SkillsUSA increases productivity by cultivating a highly skilled and knowledgeable work force to meet 21st century needs.
How SkillsUSA is the national organization for public high school and college/postsecondary technical students enrolled in trade, technical and skilled service profession instructional programs including allied health occupations.
How SkillsUSA participation prepares each member for entry into the work force.
How each SkillsUSA member can demonstrate excellence in career and technical education.
How SkillsUSA represents 130 different occupational areas in its affiliated instructional programs and more than 300,000 high school and college/postsecondary members nationwide.
SkillsUSA Championships Contest Updates
May 15th, 2009We have posted many SkillsUSA Championships contest updates on our Web page. To view them, please visit www.skillsusa.org/compete/updates.shtml and make sure the information gets to the national competitors. There aren’t updates in every contest; just in some. If new information is presented about a contest, the information can be critical to a student’s competition.
We ask the technical committees to complete contest updates by June 1 so the students can prepare. If they do add or change anything after June 1, we mail the information directly to the competitors. So, after June 1, please make sure the advisors inform their students to pay attention to their mail.
School Video News to Include a Monthly Newsletter for Participants in SkillsUSA Electronic Communications Competitions
May 15th, 2009Beginning with the June issue of School Video News and coinciding with the 2009 SkillsUSA Championships in Kansas City, SVN will include material created for SkillsUSA students, teachers, and advisors in a special SkillsUSA electronic communications newsletter each month. This exciting supplement will include information and articles of special interest to the Broadcast News Production, Television (Video) Production, Video Product Development, and Audio/Radio Production competition participants.
“Based on readership numbers of articles we have run about SkillsUSA, there is tremendous interest in this outstanding organization,” says John Churchman, publisher of School Video News. “As a free monthly publication devoted to students, teachers and administrators of TV/Video and Film in the K-12 and secondary school market, including a department on SkillsUSA seemed like an excellent way to deliver timely information about forthcoming SkillsUSA state and national events and competitions. Special ad-hoc notices can also be delivered via School Video News as might be required,” says Churchman.
In addition to coverage of events, SVN will feature SkillsUSA participating schools in the “school profiles” section, bringing more visibility to individual schools and their involvement in SkillsUSA. SVN and SkillsUSA will provide monthly content pertinent to SkillsUSA participants in the form of articles, winning tips and techniques, school profiles, audio and video clips, event schedules and coverage, tutorials and announcements. SkillsUSA chapters are encouraged to submit articles or announcements to editor@buysvs.com. To view the article go to: www.school-video-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=472:skillsusa-and-what-it-takes-to-be-a-winner&catid=49:competitions&Itemid=117
Contest Updates
May 1st, 2009We have posted many SkillsUSA Championships contest updates on our Web page. To view them, please visit www.skillsusa.org/compete/updates.shtml.
