The Hot New Gen-Z Trend Is Skipping College

On a recent Wednesday morning, about 20 students at Queens Technical High School marched into a supply closet and retrieved what looked, to an outsider, like silver suitcases. They sat back down at the classroom’s U-shaped table arrangement and opened what were in fact “advanced cable trainers,” kits containing the cables and wire cutters they’d be working with throughout their senior year. Meanwhile, their teacher, David Abreu, began to lecture them about what it’s like out “in industry”—the vocational school term for the proverbial “real world.” Read the full story on VICE.com.

SkillsUSA Honors State Associations with Annual Awards for Excellence

A total of 57 SkillsUSA state leaders representing 49 state associations gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana, for their annual State Directors Association (SDA) professional conference.

Memphis Hixon and Bryan Raeckelboom on stage at NLSC

July 16, 2026

SkillsUSA Names Bryan Raeckelboom National Advisor of the Year

SkillsUSA has named Bryan Raeckelboom, a Building Construction Instructor at the Golden Strip Career Center in Greenville, S.C., as its National Advisor of the Year.

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The Hot New Gen-Z Trend Is Skipping College

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SkillsUSA Honors State Associations with Annual Awards for Excellence

SkillsUSA Names Bryan Raeckelboom National Advisor of the Year

Search News Room:

Media Contacts

Clare Briner (Media Inquires)

Mike Rowe for SkillsUSA

Kayleen McCabe PSA