- At the recommendation of Frank Carroll, former SkillsUSA board member, president, Bosch Power Tools North America and full-time SkillsUSA champion, we held a meeting here in Leesburg on May 26 with Larry Teverbaugh, CEO of K2Share and Robert Wagner, senior VP, Lowe’s and SkillsUSA board member. The agenda revolved around Vision 2020 and how we can employ the talent and influence of top corporate executives to reach those goals by tapping into their business acumen for strategic guidance – such as developing appropriate and responsive business models for SkillsUSA – and using their leverage appropriately for financial development. It was an excellent half-day meeting and gave the invited staff plenty to think about.
- Here’s the latest national conference by the numbers. Conference registration – even in these tough financial times – is up over last year to 9,647. A good sign is that state associations are asking for more hotel rooms. And, we have 5,745 contestants registered That’s more than last year even though we have two fewer contests. We have 79 SkillsUSA University seminars scheduled (74 last year) and there are 144 TECHSPO exhibitors, 30 of them are new. The 101 and 201 State Officer and Advisor Training registration is way up (over 70 more participants) this year to 269 participants from 25 states. SkillsUSA’s partners are giving away $100,000 in travel scholarships related to students attending conference.
- Stephen Gold, CEO of the Manufacturing Alliance, came by for a visit on the morning of May 16. Staff and I provided an overview of SkillsUSA and Gold oriented us to the Alliance. Several of our partners serve on the Manufacturing Alliance board of directors, including CAT, Air Products and Snap-on. Emily DeRocco and I presented to the Manufacturing Alliance board in Washington, D.C. on June 9. Gold sees SkillsUSA as part of the solution for the manufacturing pipeline issue facing the nation’s manufacturers. The Alliance has over 300 manufacturing companies as members. He will also be attending the NLSC.
- On May 18, I participated in the inaugural meeting of the National Youth Safety Advisory Council. Led by CareerSafe and supported by federal OSHA, the council is comprised of leaders from industry and education. Friends of SkillsUSA on the Council include CAT, FFA, Chad Maclin of Fairfax County (Va.) Public Schools, Dr. Chip Harris from Tennessee State University and Mike Raponi, former SkillsUSA board member and CTE director from Nevada. The Council will be sponsoring the first National Young Worker Safety Day in conjunction with our NLSC on Tuesday, June 21. The goal of NYSAC is to review current and future safety regulations and policies set forth by OSHA and to help determine the best ways to train and educate young workers including methods and data collection processes.
- Membership in the Alumni & Friends Association is close to 20,000.
- Lowe’s will have 13 vendor companies attending conference this year.
- There were 49 signatures on the “Dear Colleague” letter to support Perkins funding when it was sent to the chairman and ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Service and Education in mid-May. It will probably be one of many letters in the months ahead.
Highlights
June 15th, 2011Highlights
April 1st, 2011- Membership now stands at 299,879 paid student and professional members and 30 states have now exceeded their membership last year. Memberships continue to come in slowly, and we now have 18,969 alumni members. . A reminder – professional and alumni memberships count; so, be sure to add yours as soon as possible and encourage others too. Here’s another reminder of the Web link that has simplified the process for individuals joining SkillsUSA as professional members (non-advisors/instructors): www.skillsusa-register.org/reports/JoinAsProfessional.aspx.
- On March 8, we received a “Sustainability Post-Occupancy Evaluation” (what we call an “energy audit”) on the SkillsUSA National Leadership Center conducted by Second Eden Studio. The draft report looks at eight areas including energy, carbon, water, and building materials. A nice feature of the audit is that suggestions for improvements are ranked in three categories: low or no cost, moderate cost and then the big one, investment. That’s language we understand. The final report is due June 2011.
- Nicholas Pinchuk of Snap-on was honored as the Business Leader of the Year by the Association of Career and Technical Education during the Policy and Planning Seminar on March 8. I was honored to attend, along with SkillsUSA Board Member, Greg Rintala of Snap-on.
- Staff spoke recently to trainers of the International Training Institute for union apprentices. She said of the 150 trainers in the audience, only 10 had ever heard of SkillsUSA; but, they thought they needed to know a lot more now.
- On March 16, I taped a radio interview with “The Money Pit” Home Improvement Media. It was broadcast on Sunday, March 20, and was nationally syndicated to 210 stations including WABC AM in New York City. I covered information on the need for skilled workers in construction and what it means for students to be career ready. The Money Pit connection came about through the CEO Champion of the Year program for John McGlade of Air Products last fall. Tom Kraeutler, president, was one of the invited news media guests for that event.
- It was reported to the staff on March 16 that we now have orders for 6,200 Skill Connect Assessments, double last year’s orders. She said three states have already ordered assessments for their state competitions and two more are to come.
- And, finally, we already have 60 SkillsUSA University presentations booked, and the Championships office has held six webinars with technical committees and national education team members to get ready for conference.
2011 SkillsUSA University Reminder
February 15th, 2011We are currently accepting proposals from high-quality presenters of innovative, timely and dynamic educational topics to present at the 2011 SkillsUSA University in Kansas City, Mo. All sessions will take place at the Downtown Marriott Hotel or the Kansas City Convention Center on June 22, 23 and 24.
We ask state directors or instructors who would like to present to send e-mails with proposed topics to Deborah Tripp at dtripp@skillsusa.org.
The deadline for proposals is February 22. For more information and a Request for Proposal (RFP), go to www.skillsusa.org/events/skillsuniv.shtml.
A Call to Action and the Big Show
June 23rd, 2010Today’s a big day. The Call to Action Session begins this morning at 8:30 and is the only place during NLSC where ALL instructors/advisors gather in a meeting specifically for teachers and administrators. There will be a thank-you gift for every person attending, and it’s a great time to hear about the latest SkillsUSA happenings and from our partners in Washington, D.C.
SkillsUSA University begins today at 10 a.m. See: www.skillsusa.org/events/skillsuniv.shtml for details. Also, be sure and check out SkillsUSA’s Amazing Race. It’s part of SkillsUSA TECHSPO and begins today at 10:30 a.m. You can find all the details on Page 18 of the conference program: http://www.skillsusa.org/downloads/PDF/NLSC/program.pdf.
The SkillsUSA Delegates continue their important work today with a Meet the Candidates session at 1 p.m., the first delegate business meeting at 2 p.m. and another joint session of the high school and college/postsecondary houses at 3 p.m. John McGlade, CEO of Air Products and SkillsUSA’s CEO Champion of the Year is the special guest speaker for the joint session.
This evening at 7 p.m., the conference officially begins with our Opening Ceremony at Kemper Arena, sponsored by Bosch and Georgia-Pacific. Our keynote speaker is Mike Holmes from the HGTV program, “Holmes on Homes.” New this year, the ceremony closes with the ribbon cutting for the SkillsUSA Championships. Everything will be broadcast live via Internet. Log on at www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscvideo.shtml.
Highlights
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.
Highlights
June 1st, 2010- 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.
2010 SkillsUSA University Reminder
January 15th, 2010We are currently accepting proposals from high-quality presenters of innovative, timely and dynamic educational sessions to be presented at the 2010 SkillsUSA University in Kansas City, Mo. All sessions will take place at the Downtown Marriott or Bartle Hall of the Kansas City Convention Center on June 23, 24 and 25.
If any state director or instructor would like to present, please send an e-mail with a proposed topic to Deborah Kenn Tripp at dtripp@skillsusa.org.
Possible topics: local chapter activities; fund-raising; community service; SkillsUSA program of work success stories; business etiquette; communication skills for students; local industry partnerships, etc. These can be best practices (with a local advisor presenting) or an expert in the subject area. If you do not want to present, but you have suggestions for workshop topics, please feel free to forward them to us.
A memo has gone out to all technical committee chairpersons and to presenters from last year. If you know of people who might like to present, please feel free to forward them this information. The deadline for proposals is February 22, 2010. For more information and a Request for Proposal, go to: www.skillsusa.org/events/skillsuniv.shtml.
Highlights
April 1st, 2009- The mood at the ACTE (Association of Career and Technical Education) Policy and Planning Seminar in Washington, D.C. from March 9-11 was hopeful but not assured. Speaker after speaker said that career and technical education’s (CTE) moment is now. Some speakers said that to take advantage of CTE’s opportunities, we need to move on increasing CTE funding in the next two years. In light of the recession and the new administration, policymakers understand that America needs a skilled work force, that it needs to retrain its existing work force, and that education to prepare students for further education and to keep them from dropping out of school is what CTE is all about. Staffers from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee talked about meeting these needs. So, too, did Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Secretary Duncan spoke of the administration’s dedication to finding the best practices for stopping dropouts and also sending students on to higher education. The Secretary frequently referenced technical and community colleges during his remarks. I believe CTE has his ear, but there’s much more talking to do.
- I spoke on March 13 during the HVACR and Plumbing Instructor Workshop in Lansdowne, Virginia. Several national staffers were also there during the conference in the trade show booth. There were 325 instructors in attendance from across the country.
- Staff attended the American Technical Education Association Conference in Chattanooga, Tenneessee to talk about SkillsUSA’s service learning model and the Work Force Ready System. Staff reported considerable interest in both SkillsUSA and the assessments.
- SkillsUSA University seminars for national conference are up by 15. We’re now at 82 seminars.
- TECHSPO booth reservations are up to 127.
- We conducted our first Web conference with the SkillsUSA WorldTeam on March 19. With me on the call were Peter Carey, our official delegate, and Mark Claypool, our team leader. It was a great meeting. We covered a lot of information regarding all aspects of the students’ responsibilities and got an update on where they are with training and preparation for the 2009 WorldSkills Competition in Calgary. They asked many questions, were very enthusiastic and appear to be a very committed group of young people. To date, we have selected 12 members and have six more to go. We are working to get their bios and photos posted on the WorldTeam Web site. To view them and to learn more about the Calgary event, please visit this link.
2009 SkillsUSA University Reminder
January 15th, 2009We are currently accepting proposals from high-quality presenters of innovative, timely and dynamic educational sessions to be presented at the 2009 SkillsUSA University, in Kansas City, Mo. All sessions will take place at the Downtown Marriott or Bartle Hall or the Kansas City Convention Center on June 24, 25 and 26.
We ask instructors who would like to present to send e-mails with proposed topics to Deborah Kenn at dkenn@skillsusa.org.
Possible topics: local chapter activities; fund-raising; community service; SkillsUSA program of work success stories; business etiquette; communication skills for students; local industry partnerships, etc. These can be best practices (with a local advisor presenting) or an expert in the subject area. If you do not want to present, but you have suggestions for workshop topics, please feel free to forward them to us.
The deadline for proposals is February 1, 2009. For more information and a Request for Proposal, go to this page.
