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Great National TV Coverage

April 6th, 2009

We received some great TV exposure on Saturday, April 4 and a great testimony about SkillsUSA from SPEED Channel reporter and SkillsUSA alumna, Wendy Venturini.

SkillsUSA was in attendance at the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway where Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Impala SS showcased a Tough Tools for Cool Schools paint scheme.

Thanks to all those who work with the Lowe’s partnership that made this coverage possible! The interview is below:

Tough Tools for Cool Schools Rollout

April 1st, 2009

We had a great rollout of the Tough Tools for Cool Schools campaign with Lowe’s at Lovejoy High School in Hampton, Ga. An obvious highlight was having NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson pull the #48 racecar into the Lovejoy automotive lab. In the words of instructor Price Jacobs who is a 20-year construction trades instructor at Lovejoy: “This is the greatest day of my teaching career.” Lowe’s will be presenting Kobalt tools to 515 SkillsUSA building trades programs nationwide. The estimated value of the tools is $317,000. National officer Cameron Thomas of Texas was a great speaker at the event. He spoke of the value of his teachers, CTE and SkillsUSA. Wendy Venturini, an anchor for the Speed Channel was mistress of ceremonies for the event. The nice part? Wendy is from North Carolina and a former gold medalist in Prepared Speech at SkillsUSA. She told everyone that her career had been directly influenced by her participation in SkillsUSA. Here’s a link to an ESPN video and the Lowe’s event: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY5Q89GObP4. A big thank you to Gayle Silvey, Georgia state association director for all her work in organizing the event at Lovejoy High School and getting the students and teachers prepared for the spotlight.

Highlights

March 15th, 2009

  • On March 4, I was back in Washington at the National Press Club for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) event announcing the Manufacturing Skills Certification System. Board member Emily DeRocco moderated. That only seemed fair. After all, the whole initiative came out of her shop at NAM. It was great to meet with old friends and leaders of sponsoring organizations including Steve Mendes of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Leo Reddy of the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing and Ray Shook of the American Welding Society. For the NAM news release, please click on http://www.nam.org/NewsFromtheNAM/SkillsCertificationSystem.aspx.
  • Our long-time friend Rocco Marano, now retired from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, stopped by on February 26 to talk about a new project he’s taken on with the Energy Education Foundation. The foundation is working to get students involved in local and online initiatives for energy and Rocco believes SkillsUSA is a natural fit.
  • In current travel news, board member and YDF Chairman Greg Rintala visited the national center recently to review some things for the finance committee and to work on the agenda for the YDF meeting in California.
  • And, I just returned from Atlanta where Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools, in partnership with SkillsUSA staff, kicked off the new Tough Tools for Cool Schools program on March 6. Lowe’s is donating more than $300,000 worth of Kobalt tools to 500 SkillsUSA building and construction trades programs across the country. The first set of tools was delivered by three-time NASCAR champion, Jimmie Johnson to Lovejoy High School just prior to the March 8 Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Spring Cup Series race. Johnson’s No. 48 Impala SS will also showcase a SkillsUSA logo and a special Tough Tools for Cool Schools paint scheme when he races on April 5 at the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Special thanks to SkillsUSA Georgia director Gayle Silvey for her work on this event.