Celebrate SkillsUSA‘s Life-Changing Legacy

SkillsUSA is the #1 workforce development organization for students. We empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members.

Chapters: Recognize members, advisors, and champions who live the SkillsUSA mission every day.

What might this look like? Try:

• Post a photo shout-out on social media for students and advisors who exemplify the mission.
• Create a “Mission Wall” with quotes or photos.
• Host a “Paper Plate Awards” ceremony, write fun, personalized awards on paper plates (e.g., “Most Helpful Teammate,” “Future CEO,” “Always Ready to Lead”) and present them during a chapter meeting or class.

Resource

• Member of the Month Activity

Chapters: Use your skills to give back to your school or community.

What might this look like? Try:

• Host a quick fix-it event (e.g., repairing classroom items or organizing supplies).
• Create thank-you cards for school staff.
• Volunteer for a short project like cleaning up a shared space (e.g., your school courtyard).

 Resource

• Give Back Project Ideas

Chapters: Connect students with real industry professionals and explore career pathways through SkillsUSA Pathful! Visit pathful.skillsusa.org

What might this look like? Try:

• Have students complete the “Careers and YOUR Interests” lesson to discover top career matches. College/Postsecondary members, consider completing the Skills Assessment. 
• Assign “Building Your Resume.” Connect this to future career competitions, officer elections or job shadowing experiences.
• Host a live virtual industry chat using SkillsUSA Pathful’s “Live Connections” feature. Choose a guest speaker who represents your program area or a student’s dream career. (Advisors should submit their industry chat requests at least 2 weeks before SkillsUSA Week to allow adequate time for speaker assignment and coordination.)

Resources

• Welcoming Business Partners to the Classroom
• Questions for Guest Speakers

Chapters: Amplify the skilled trades through local advocacy and public relations.

What might this look like? Try:

• Write a short article for the school newsletter to express the importance of CTE.
• Create a poster or bulletin board display to recruit members for your SkillsUSA chapter.
• Post a SkillsUSA Pathful career video or speaker clip that highlights why skilled trades matter to social media.

Resources

• School Board Presentation
• SkillsUSA Framework + Framework Stories Lesson Plan

Chapters: Celebrate your future! Wear SkillsUSA gear or dress in your future career attire to showcase your goals.

What might this look like? Try:

• Host a “Career Catwalk” in class where students “walk the runway” in their future uniforms and share their dream job.
• Create a virtual vision board using Google Slides, each student designs one slide that represents their future career, then presents it to the class for one minute.
• Have students create personal short- or long-term SMART goals in SkillsUSA Pathful by navigating to My Tracker → Goal Setting → +Short-term Goal or +Long-term Goal. Once a goal is added, they can edit, view, or delete it as needed.

Resource

• Celebrate and Look to the Future