• Students Meet Power Brokers in Their State
• Tractor to Truck?
• Don't Forget to Say Thanks
• Literacy Efforts Get National Attention

Two SkillsUSA student leaders joined with their state’s elected leaders in support of career and technical education.

SkillsUSA state president Tramaine Cooper, who is also chairman of the New Jersey Vocational Student Organization Leadership Council, and SkillsUSA state vice president April Walters met with state Sen. Paul Sarlo, Office of Smart Growth director Adam Zellner, and Philip Kirschner, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, the event sponsor.

Cooper accepted a proclamation in support of career and technical education signed by Gov. James E. McGreevey.

Most people would look at a tired 1970 John Deere lawn tractor and think “scrap heap.” But Jason Hughes, a manufacturing technology student at EHOVE Career Center in Milan, Ohio, saw a one-half-scale Model T Ford truck.

Hughes has his mind set on transforming the tractor in time to show it off in the local summer parade circuit. According to a source at the school, it looks like he’ll make it.

Doris Thomas (left) presents Sally Beauty Supply store manager Nancy Hinson with thank-yous from her students.

For the cosmetology class at Stratford High School in Nashville, Tenn., networking not only brings needed supplies to the classroom, but offers an opportunity for a business etiquette project, too.

To thank the local business for its support, students wrote letters that were bound into an album and presented along with a trophy to Nancy Hinson, manager of Sally Beauty Supply in nearby Madison.

The store’s support includes school and student discounts, donated practice mannequins and future recognition in the corporate newsletter and its website at www.sallybeauty.com.

Through the Youth Leaders for Literacy initiative, the Kendrick High School SkillsUSA chapter in Columbus, Ga., received one of 21 grants from the National Education Association and Youth Service America. The chapter’s $500 grant helped students conduct reading activities for children in elementary schools, libraries and bookstores. “We were so excited,” chapter president Shanta Bunkley says. “Our chapter members have been working hard on literacy projects over the last couple of years, and we were eager to get started this year.”