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Mike Rowe Talks SkillsUSA on “Fox and Friends”

America’s Favorite “Dirty Jobs Guy” Highlights SkillsUSA as a Skills Gap Solution SkillsUSA was featured on national morning show “Fox and Friends” on June 21 in a segment featuring Mike Rowe, proponent of the skilled trades who is working to highlight career and technical education as an alternative to the four-year degree. In the segment, Mike Rowe talked with anchors Ainsley Earhardt and Steve Doocy about his involvement with the 2017 SkillsUSA Championships in Louisville. “It’s a very big deal. Once a year we try to come and shed light on this. It’s huge! If we focus on this organization... Read More

SkillsUSA Leaders Participate in White House Session on Workforce Development

CTSOs Brief Department of Education Senior Officials National officer Mackenzie Oestreich, high-school division secretary from Oklahoma (second from right) with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and other CTSO students. Leesburg, Va. — SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit organization for career-focused students, was part of a recent Workforce Development and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Listening Session sponsored by the White House Office of Public Liaison. The June 1 event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, provided an opportunity for White House staff and senior administration officials to hear directly from the leaders of career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) on their... Read More

SkillsUSA Career Essentials Introduced at National Event

Next Generation Employability Skill-Building Curricula to Launch in Fall 2017 — Preview at NLSC Working in teams, understanding leadership and communicating clearly are required in any career. However, these skills were never easy to teach — until now. SkillsUSA, an innovator in educational resources for career and technical students, will introduce SkillsUSA Career Essentials at the 2017 National Leadership and Skills Conference. This suite of programs takes teaching career readiness to a new level. SkillsUSA Career Essentials is the next generation of employability skill-building curricula designed for today’s students. The suite advances the impact of the SkillsUSA... Read More

Alumni Pin Design Winner

Congratulations to Heather Brown, this year’s winner of the SkillsUSA Alumni Pin Design Challenge. She is an advertising design instructor and SkillsUSA advisor at A.W. Beattie Career Center in Allison Park, Pa. She will be recognized during the NLSC in June 2017. Read More

Strategies for Attracting Students to High-quality CTE

Our friends at Advance CTE and the Siemens Foundation are working on a project, Strategies for Attracting Students to High-Quality CTE, which supports states and local communities in their efforts to attract more students into high-quality career and technical education programs of study. This project will develop effective messaging, as well as provide support to states. Advance CTE commissioned a national survey to better understand the opportunity of CTE, outlined in a new report, “The Value and Promise of Career Technical Education: Results from a National Survey of Parents and Students.” Through the study, Advance CTE found that: Finding a career passion... Read More

Greater Good By Joining Forces

It’s been said that oil and water don’t mix. But when the “oil” comes from an automotive class, and the “water” is an ingredient of culinary arts training, it’s a winning combination. Case in point: Ken Cook and Tracy Horton’s SkillsUSA chapter at Norwalk (Calif.) High School. Working together, the school’s automotive and culinary students were recognized as a SkillsUSA Model of Excellence. Thanks to this designation, doors opened and support poured in. Counter-clockwise from left: Culinary arts instructor Tracy Horton, automotive teacher Ken Cook, automotive student Kimberly Sanchez and culinary student Daisy Benavidez have teamed... Read More

Tiny Houses a Big Help in Flood Areas

Tiny house at Charleston’s Carver Career Center, one of 12 receiving W.Va. grants. Photo: West Virginia Public Broadcasting Used with permission. Historic flooding in West Virginia left many struggling months later. To help those still homeless, 12 career and technical schools received $20,000 from the state board of education to build tiny houses. Most of the 15 homes are less than 500 square feet but are designed to house two to six people. At Clay County High School, a $25,000 SkillsUSA/Lowe’s grant likewise helped students build a tiny house. News media coverage for the statewide... Read More

Deep Into the Weeds

Shanquirel Jenkins and Emily Jones needed a clear-cut solution to beautify their campus at Charlotte Technical College in Port Charlotte, Fla. With the help of a SkillsUSA/Lowe’s grant of $17,000, they began to clear an area to illustrate garden design. As seen in the photo (above left), they had their work “cut out” for them. Thankfully, the entire class in the college’s Real World Skills Program helped with hoeing, raking and pulling weeds before planting, then tending to vegetables (above right: Jenkins [left] and Jones). ... Read More

Constructing a Better Life for Peers

Photo: East Career and Technology Academy, Las Vegas, Nev. Used with permission. When families’ situations break down, students in the Las Vegas area can find themselves with nowhere to turn. When that happens, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) offers shelter. To help NPHY help their peers, construction technology students at nearby East Career and Technology Academy use their skills. When a tour of NPHY revealed storage limitations, students, under the guidance of Fausto Vega, built then donated two 8-foot-by-6-foot storage sheds. The donation of the sheds provides a place for homeless teens to store belongings and has... Read More