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October 15th, 2012
On September 20, I flew to Chattanooga, Tennessee to address the Tennessee Board of Regents thanks to SkillsUSA Board President James King. The day started with a one-on-one tour of the new Volkswagen manufacturing plant and the Volkswagen Training Academy operated by Chattanooga State Community College /Tennessee Technology Center (CSCC/TTC) in partnership with Volkswagen. Students training at the academy are in an employment pathway and are hired at the Chattanooga plant when their training is complete. Courses are in precision machining, welding, industrial maintenance, lean manufacturing, teambuilding and mechatronics. Since the students are enrolled through CSCC/TTC, they are also SkillsUSA members. They had a national bronze medal Mechatronics Team at the Championships this year. Both Volkswagen and the college are proud of their team.
From Chattanooga, I traveled with Dr. Jim Barrott from CSCC/TTC to Cleveland State Community College for the Board of Regents meeting. Dr. King reported on the success of the Tennessee Technology Centers over the past year and told them SkillsUSA is an integral component of the TTC system and a proven method of delivering employability skills. After showing a brief SkillsUSA video, I gave a national overview of our program. I also commended TTC and Dr. King for their national leadership in education reform and in SkillsUSA at the college/postsecondary level. National officers Mary Kamuiru and Mark Roark spoke and then Mark introduced all 16 SkillsUSA Tennessee College/Postsecondary national gold medalists. The students presented each board member with a state gold medal. This was a great way to impress the leaders of the state’s postsecondary system. Thanks go to James King.
Tags: State News
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February 15th, 2012
- Membership continues to run ahead of last year. We have 269,915 members entered now. That’s 715 more than this date last year. More states have surpassed their total membership last year. Congratulations to the following state associations for exceeding last year’s overall membership. They are California, Clay Mitchell; Connecticut, Heidi Balch; Hawaii, Gilbert Chun; Massachusetts, Karen Ward; Mississippi, Andy Sims; New Jersey, Pete Carey; New York high school division, Bruce Potter; Oklahoma, Darren Gibson; Pennsylvania, Jeri Widdowson; Rhode Island, Josh Klemp; and, Virginia, David Rathbone. And, a reminder that professional membership and alumni memberships also count. Individuals such as yourself, industry partners and other friends not affiliated with a local chapter can join, too, online at the following link: www.skills-register.org/rpts/JoinAsProfessional.aspx
- On January 21, I was in Henderson, Nev., at a brand new state-of-the art technical center to do strategic planning with the Nevada board of directors and Mike Pointer. They put together a two-year plan and a copy has gone to Mike Raponi, past SkillsUSA state association director and now state CTE director.
- I recently met with Tim Zilke, CEO of ASE. Mr. Zilke invited in the local expert on nonprofit management and human resource management ASE uses and he’s agreed to review our SkillsUSA succession plan.
Tags: ASE, Government Relations, Highlights, Membership, State News
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August 1st, 2010
On July 15 I arrived in California for two days of meetings with the new board of directors. We began with a day of board training and then moved into the preparation of the strategic plan on the second day. Four of our national partners – Toyota, Snap-on, State Farm and Lowe’s – have representatives on the California board of directors. It looks to me as though the association now has the leadership and resources it needs to grow SkillsUSA California.
Tags: State News
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August 1st, 2010
On July 18, I attended the Georgia Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) Conference. I believe there were 3,000 teachers in attendance and there’s no doubt that CTE has top-level respect in Georgia. They did two “Legislator of the Year” awards, and the legislators showed up.
I did two well-received and well-attended presentations on the Work Force Ready System on the 19th. My sessions included representatives from the Georgia Department of Education. A real highlight during the conference was the announcement that the department of education has not only added the full list of Skill Connect Assessments to the state-approved list, it’s also making the resources available for the students to take them.
State association director Gayle Silvey held her first annual Georgia SkillsUSA University. Approximately 75 teachers and administrators attended and they received some great materials in addition to the training.
Tags: Skill Connect Assessments, State News, Work Force Ready System
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August 1st, 2010
- I’m pleased to report that SkillsUSA’s board of directors is now at full strength. Robert Wagner of Lowe’s and Joe Pietrantonio of Air Products complete the industry chairs and Kathryn Manns will now fill the chair for the American Association of Community Colleges. This is going to be quite a board meeting in August.
- We held a post-conference debriefing meeting on July 13 and reviewed departments’ plus-delta reports. We created a top 10 challenges list of items to be overcome by next year’s conference, but – in the main – staff seems to believe that the conference went very well.
- On July 20, SkillsUSA staff, by invitation, attended a high-level meeting at the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers. The subject was industry’s concern on how it can excite American youth about manufacturing careers. They said manufacturing needs to rebrand itself. Participants also discussed the need for an umbrella organization to promote manufacturing careers to young people and to focus the message. The next phase of the discussion will be on message coordination. More meetings are planned.
- The Virginia state officer team was here at the National Leadership Center on July 17 along with state director Dave Rathbone. On the 14th, we had a meeting with Microsoft consultants to talk about much needed upgrades to our software and the server.
- And, on the 28th, I met with union executives at AFL-CIO headquarters to discuss support for the SkillsUSA WorldTeam.
Tags: American Association of Community Colleges, Board of Directors, Highlights, NLSC, State News, State Officers, WorldTeam
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April 1st, 2010
Thanks to State Association Director Toni Decklever, I had some very productive meetings with the 11-member Wyoming board of directors, March 19 through 21, in Casper. The board has a good balance of industry representatives, teachers and administrators. I did some board training, and then, we plowed right through a strategic plan for next year. The draft plan was in their hands last week.
Tags: Board of Directors, State News
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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.
Tags: Engineering Alliance, Highlights, Monster Garage, Partner News, Skill Connect Assessments, SkillsUSA Championships, Staff News, State News, Work Force Ready System, WorldTeam, Youth Development Foundation
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February 1st, 2009
- I’m pleased to announce that I’ve received word from Neil Eibler that Nick A. Morrisroe, vice president of Channel Marketing, IRWIN Industrial Tools will be joining the SkillsUSA board of directors. Nick will be stepping into the spot previously held by Sue Smith, and we thank Sue for her service.
- The membership clock is still ticking. As of this week, there have been two states to go over last year’s membership – Rhode Island and Michigan. Congratulations to state directors Josh Klemp and Tammy Brown. And, compared to this date last year, SkillsUSA membership is running just about the same.
- State director Mike Cowles took a great group of officers and instructors to Washington, D.C. last week during the Ohio Regional Officers Training Institute. They were with us for training on Inauguration Day and watched the ceremony over lunch with the staff. The delegation headed to Capitol Hill the following day for meetings with the Ohio congressional delegation.
- On Saturday, January 24, the Vision 2020 committee got underway in Ft. Lauderdale. The committee will be imagining what SkillsUSA will look like and how it will serve the world of today’s first graders when they get CTE in high school. All of us had our future thinking caps on. Steve Pierz, strategy program manager, Caterpillar Inc. worked us through the process.
Tags: Membership, State News
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