The Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI), a five-day advanced leadership program for students and advisors, will be held September 17-21at the Hyatt Dulles near the SkillsUSA National Leadership Center and Washington, D.C. Students who are interested must apply and be accepted through their respective state director’s office and have state approval prior to registering. Student sessions focus on how an individual can affect change: The impact of the individual as a leader, citizen and employee, learning advocacy skills and strategies, and participation in congressional visits “on the Hill” are the culminating activities of WLTI.

Advisors will have a separate training track centered on becoming an advocate for career and technical education. The conference registration site (also used for NLSC) will be used to register for this year’s WLTI.

Other forms related to the conference (i.e. application, agenda, pre-WLTI assignments and Statesman Award requirements) have been updated and are on the website at www.skillsusa.org/events/wlti.shtml. The sample congressional appointment letter has been added to the website and a hard copy is enclosed with this Update for state association directors. Questions about the application process can be directed to Deborah Tripp at 1-800-321-8422, Ext. 637.

*NOTE: Hotel has changed from last year!

The 2011 WLTI will be held on September 17-21 at the Hyatt Dulles. State association directors, please read the following to help you with registration.

Application and Registration Process
The national office has outlined steps for this year’s WLTI registration process. Students who are interested in attending MUST apply to their state office, be accepted by their state office and meet state approval prior to being registered. Advisors and other participants do not need to apply through their state office and can follow the registration steps below. WLTI application, registration and liability/medical forms are available online.

Please contact the national office at 1-800-321-8422 if you wish to have WLTI forms mailed/faxed to you, ask for Susan Trent. Questions about the application process can be directed to Deborah Tripp at 1-800-321-8422, ext. 637 or dtripp@skillsusa.org.

WLTI General Directions:
All student applications and registrations will be conducted through their respective state association offices. Applications are due to their state office by August 10, 2011. Please note: students MUST apply and be accepted by their state associations prior to registration. All applications and registration forms can be downloaded and printed from our website at www.skillsusa.org/events/wlti.shtml or obtained from the state director.

For state association directors who will be sending information to your advisors and students, following are the steps for student and advisor applications.

Steps for Student Application to their State Office:

1. Students need to obtain an application form by: (a) downloading from the SkillsUSA website, (b) from their state director, or (c) calling the national office to have one faxed, call 1-800-321-8422, ask for Susan Trent.
2. Applications must be typed, neat, complete and free of errors. Complete and send to their state office.
3. Deadline for applications to be sent to their state office is August 10, 2011.
4. The state association director must/will notify students whether they are accepted or not. If accepted, students can then fill out their registration forms for the conference and return them to the state director who will submit the registrations to the national office.

Steps for Student Registration Through Their State Office:

1. Obtain a registration form, by (a) downloading from our website, (b) from the state director, or (c) call the national office to have one faxed. Call 1-800-332-8422 and ask for Susan Trent with questions.
2. Complete the registration form AND medical release information. Submit to the students’ state association director with payment by August 10, 2011. The deadline for the state director to register a student is August 26, 2011.
3. Once the national office receives the registration, the student will receive a confirmation letter.
4. Complete the pre-conference assignment (found on the website) and the student should take it to WLTI. Students can obtain the pre-conference assignment form by (a) downloading it from our website, (b) from their state director, or (c) by calling the national office to have one faxed. Call 1-800-321-8422, ext. 637 and ask for Deborah Tripp.

Steps for Advisor Registration:

1. Obtain a registration form by (a) downloading from our website, (b) from the state director, or (c) by calling the national office to have one faxed. Call 1-800-332-8422 and ask for Susan Trent.
2. Complete the registration form AND medical release information. Submit to their state association director with payment by August 10, 2011. The deadline for the state director to register the advisor is August 26, 2011.

Once the national office receives the advisor registration, the advisor will receive a confirmation letter, tentative agenda and pre-conference information.

Steps for the State Director to Register Participants:

1. Obtain registration forms either from our website or request a set be mailed to you, so that you may provide forms when requests are made.
2. Approve/disapprove student applications. Notify students you approve and ask each to complete the registration forms AND medical release information and send to you by August 26, 2011.
3. Please note: we are asking you to encourage all members to apply and attend WLTI, not just state officers. The experience is designed to be a capstone event for personal leadership development.
4. Submit all registration/medical forms with payment to Susan Trent, SkillsUSA, 14001 SkillsUSA Way, Leesburg, VA 20176-5494. Susan can be reached at 1-800-321-8422.
5. All registration forms must be received in the national office no later than August 26, 2011.

“I had a great time, learned a lot, and made many lifetime friends. I’m excited to go back home and share what I learned. I can’t wait to come back again. Thanks for a good conference. You all ROCK!” That was one of the comments from the students attending the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI). Here’s a comment from a teacher: “This was my first time attending WLTI and it will be one of my top memories in 15 years of SkillsUSA involvement.”

Of course, perennial highlights for student delegations during WLTI are the congressional office visits. This year, in the space of about five hours, the students and teachers from 21 states made at least 78 office visits. The delegation reports are in and transcribed, and here’s a sampling of what the students had to report:

“We met with Representative Neugebauer (Texas). He said he strongly believes in what SkillsUSA is all about and he said that Perkins funding is very important. He said without CTE programs we wouldn’t have a productive nation; it’s the basis of our work force.”

“We met with a legislative aide in Representative Arcuri’s (New York) office. It was the first time she’d heard about SkillsUSA and she was interested to know more. She said the congressman had been approached last year to be part of the CTE Caucus and he was looking for local advocates in his district. The aide said “I think I’ve found the perfect group!”

WLTI 2010 received uniformly high marks based on surveys of students and advisors with scores averaging between 4.25 and 4.75 on a five-point scale. We also received recommendations for improvement, and we’ll be working on those. That’s how we keep the ratings high, but when we see the advisors’ rating of 4.71 to the question “did the training offered meet students’ needs?” we believe we’re on the right track. Congratulations go to the entire staff. We’ll just have to do it again.