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A Call to Action and the Big Show

June 23rd, 2010

Today’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.

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There’s a Lot Going On!

June 22nd, 2010

Things are really kicking off today at conference. SkillsUSA TECHSPO exhibits open at 9 a.m. (all times are CDT). Be sure to stop by Municipal Auditorium’s Music Hall Foyer for your FREE conference souvenir T-shirt, pin and backpack, all compliments of Lowe’s.

Starting today, we will be broadcasting twice daily from Bartle Hall, streaming live on the Internet. Look for updates at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Watch for interviews with students, delegates and sponsors, keynote speakers, highlights from the competition floor, coverage of SkillsUSA TECHSPO and other outdoor activities. Visit: www.skillsusa.org/events/nlscvideo.shtml to watch.

The SkillsUSA Delegate meetings kick off today with a joint session beginning at 2 p.m.  at the Muehlebach Tower in the Marriott downtown.

The Health Occupations Advisors Luncheon is today at noon in Bartle Hall Room 2206. This is SkillsUSA’s time to extend a special thanks to our health science educators. A great lunch will be served, and the keynote speaker will be from the U.S. Army Medical Corps.

Don’t forget that this year, our Opening Ceremony has moved to Wednesday night. So the Champions Festival has been moved to tonight. This is the first official event for NLSC participants. It begins at 7 p.m. at the Kansas City Power and Light District’s “Living Room.” All participants must wear a SkillsUSA logo shirt, appropriate attire and the official conference badge for admittance to this private, SkillsUSA-only event. It’s sponsored by Carhartt, Pepsi and the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association.

The 100-Percent Advisors Reception will honor our very best instructors: those who involve ALL their students in a quality SkillsUSA leadership and skills development program. There will be two MEGA prizes awarded to teachers at this reception, sponsored by Irwin Industrial Tools. The prizes will be all-expense-paid trips for two to major national sporting events. The reception is being held at the College Basketball Experience, also in the Kansas City Power and Light District.

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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.

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Assessment Demo Center at NLSC

June 1st, 2010

Have you heard about the Skill Connect Assessments, but you haven’t yet had the chance to try them? The Skill Connect Assessment Team will be hosting a demonstration center in Booth M (in the corner of Lobby 2500 near the Ballroom) of the SkillsUSA TECHSPO in Kansas City, June 22-24.

Advisors/teachers/administrators are welcome to stop by for a hands-on demonstration. Over 40 career and technical education assessments areas will be demonstrated.

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Highlights

March 15th, 2010
  • The rescheduled Advisor’s Success Kit (ASK) Webinar was held on February 25. We had good participation, and the presentation is archived for others to view.
  • On February 26, staff met to prepare for the upcoming National Leadership and Skills Conference. Among the numbers reported: the Championships will have 96 contests adding 170 additional contestants and putting the projected total of contestants at 5,500 (twice the number of contestants at the recent Winter Olympics); will be in 33 hotels this year, up five from last year; and, TECHSPO is up $20,000 in booth sales over last year at this time.
  • And, staff did a great job of running a webinar on inclusion and diversity for the national officers before they start heading out to spring conferences. The national officers not only liked it, they appreciated it.

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How Green is Your SkillsUSA Program?

January 15th, 2010

SkillsUSA is joining many other organizations by “going green,” and we’ve now had our own national Green Team for two years. Surveys of our members indicate that students are environmentally conscious and committed to the principles of environmental stewardship. SkillsUSA is working to create a greener national conference, asking TECHSPO exhibitors to consider eco-friendly booth exhibits and giveaways, offering recycling throughout the convention center and striving to appropriately recycle/donate leftover contest materials and food to reduce waste. We’d like to learn what state associations are doing to go green. We’d also like to hear about local chapter service projects based on eco-friendly procedures, environmental education or sustainability. We are encouraging eco-friendly projects be conducted during the SkillsUSA National Week of Service and these will be showcased in the future. Please send information on your green initiatives to us, and please forward this information to local chapters. Send information to greenteam@skillsusa.org.

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Meet Rising NASCAR Driver Peyton Sellers and Support SkillsUSA

June 15th, 2009

Meet rising NASCAR driver Peyton Sellers and support SkillsUSA

Through our partnership with Jig-A-Loo USA, NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Peyton Sellers will be attending our national conference this month. He will be present at the Jig-A-Loo TECHSPO exhibit where autographed limited edition die cast replicas of the car Peyton drove in Daytona with the SkillsUSA logo on it will be available for purchase.

Not able to attend conference? You can still support SkillsUSA and Peyton by purchasing a die cast car online here: www.skillsusa.org/students/peytonsellers.shtml.

Proceeds directly benefit SkillsUSA and our partnership with Peyton Sellers.

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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.

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SkillsUSA Amazing Race

April 1st, 2009

On Wednesday, June 24 from 9:00 – 12:00 noon during national conference, SkillsUSA will introduce an exciting new program called “SkillsUSA Amazing Race.” This program will be similar to the TV show where participants are challenged to perform various tasks and move quickly through the TECHSPO territory in order to learn more about exhibitors and win prizes. In addition, SkillsUSA’s Amazing Race will provide interactive fun for students and adults. The “passport” will be distributed through the state delegation conference materials included at the registration appointment at the beginning of the week. Participants will be challenged to find different SkillsUSA products in exhibit booths throughout the show in designated TECHSPO booths. Once at the correct booth, participants must either perform a task or duty in order to qualify for a stamp on their passport cards. There are two roadblocks included in the race. Each roadblock will delay the participant and require a bit more effort to earn the stamp. After completing pit stops 1-11 (out of 12), the participant must report to the 12th and final destination and turn in the card at the final booth. The race will conclude at the SkillsUSA Alumni booth where membership will be encouraged. Prizes will be distributed at the alumni booth to participants who complete the race. There is a limited quantity of prizes, so it will be important to complete the race in a timely manner.

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