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Furnishings and the Arts Improve Lives

Photo: Ellie Josephson, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. Used with permission. At the Vancouver (Wash.) School of Arts and Academics, students decorated and furnished a housing unit affiliated with Open House Ministries. A $2,000 grant from Lowe’s not only helped them improve the housing unit at this family homeless shelter, but also allowed them to create a community garden for the residents. The ongoing project includes teaching workshops to make arts accessible to all and improve life at the shelter. To learn more, view the students’ Community Service contest PowerPoint at: http://bit.ly/2wvmJLz and videos... Read More

Putting a Song in Their Hearts

Photo: Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School. Used with permission. With the goal of promoting patriotism and citizenship, Somerset County (N.J.) Vocational and Technical High School students Islam Soliman, Vyonce Lawson and Rithika Mechineni (pictured, left to right) contacted the Somerset County Senior Wellness Center about performing a series of classical and patriotic songs. At the event, the group handed out copies of the lyrics to the senior citizens who wanted to follow along or join in to the sing-along. Read More

Mentors Share Vital Skills

Thanks to the Denver Project Management Institute (PMI), SkillsUSA members from the Center for Communication Technology at Thomas Jefferson High School received project management mentoring plus training in ProjectLibre software. PMI members taught SkillsUSA students globally recognized guidelines for project management. Projects created to PMI standards included a golf handicap phone app, a prototype 3D turbocharge system, interactive gaming apps and a website developer tool. For addressing essential elements in SkillsUSA Framework category of Technical Skills Grounded in Academics, the chapter earned the 2018 Model of Excellence distinction through the SkillsUSA Chapter Excellence Program. Read More

WorldSkills USA Will Go for Gold in Kazan, Russia, at Global Trade Skills Competition

Competitors will represent the United States against the greatest young talents in the world Leesburg, Va. — SkillsUSA today revealed 22 young competitors who will represent the United States at WorldSkills, the largest international showcase of the skilled trades. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. Its selected team members, with an average age of 19, are masters in their craft. Their dedication to training and perfecting their skills will be on display as they compete against peers from across the globe in a variety... Read More

SkillsUSA Team Visits Rep. Krishnamoorthi During WLTI

National student leaders (left to right) Guadalupe Cortez, Adam Cavanaugh and Brooke Gatchell met with Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) in his Capitol Hill office Sept. 25, 2018, as part of SkillsUSA’s Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI). In one of more than 100 congressional visits by SkillsUSA in a single day, the students thanked Rep. Krishnamoorthi for his work on the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously and was signed into law Aug. 31. Rep. Krishnamoorthi, along with Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), was a lead co-author of the... Read More

Forbes Cites Top 25 Two-Year Trade Schools; SkillsUSA Chapters Among Them

For the second year, Forbes magazine has ranked the nation’s top two-year trade schools, in a list of technical and career colleges with high-earning alumni, stand-out graduation and retention rates, and respectable debt repayment scores. The 25 schools on the list cover a variety of careers in high-paying, high-growth areas, such as aircraft maintenance, funeral services, dental hygiene and drafting. During the 2017-18 school year, there was a SkillsUSA chapter in place at 15 of Forbes’ top 25 schools. The chapters are: North Central Kansas Technical College (Kan.) State Technical College of Missouri (Mo.) Lake Area Technical Institute (S.D.)... Read More

SkillsUSA Prepares the American Workforce

 WorkingNation Produces a New Mini-Documentary about SkillsUSA for its “Do Something Awesome” Series Leesburg, Va. — SkillsUSA is the subject of a new mini-documentary produced by WorkingNation for its “Do Something Awesome” series. “Building a Strong Foundation: SkillsUSA Prepares the American Workforce” demonstrates how SkillsUSA is instrumental in strengthening the talent pipeline from schools to the workforce by imparting valuable technical and workplace skills training. During the SkillsUSA Championships in June, WorkingNation’s filmmakers followed four TeamWorks competitors from Georgia Northwestern Technical College. The students applied their skills in carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical work to complete a project in 16 hours. Read More

President Reauthorizes Perkins Career and Technical Education Act

SkillsUSA celebrates President Trump’s signing of H.R. 2353, the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act,” which officially reauthorizes the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, more commonly called Perkins funding. Perkins CTE provides more than $1 billion each year to states for vocational and career-focused education programs. “This legislation marks an important bipartisan federal investment in career and technical education,” said SkillsUSA’s executive director, Tim Lawrence. “SkillsUSA and other student organizations rely on Perkins funding to help our state associations and local chapters deliver top-quality programs in high schools and colleges nationwide. Our goal... Read More

Discount Car Rentals for SkillsUSA Members, Family and Partners

All SkillsUSA employees, board members, state directors, teachers, members, business partners and family members are eligible to take advantage of the agreement we have with Enterprise (and National Car Rental, owned by Enterprise) for business and leisure rentals. Our rates with National are “capped” at a level that is often below market rate. With Enterprise, we receive a percentage discount off whatever the market rate is. So please compare rates between the two companies before booking your reservation because one will generally be lower than the other, depending on the market rates for your reservation dates. Read More