SkillsUSA

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month! SkillsUSA and Career and Technical Education can help close the gap by focusing on accessibility in the classroom and actively engaging students with disabilities. Currently, only one-third of adults aged 16-64 with disabilities are employed, compared to 75% of those without disabilities. Inclusive hiring = strong workforce 💪 #NDEAM #SkillsUSA

Thank you and congratulations to our SkillsUSA members for representing and advocating for Career and Technical Education on Capitol Hill this week! 🙌 This has been our largest and best Washington Leadership and Training Institute yet, and it’s all thanks to your passion and dedication. You've made a real impact, and we’re so proud of you! 👏 #WLTI24 #SkillsUSA

Thats a wrap on SkillsUSA's WLTI 2024! From touring our nations capital, to meeting with our congressional representatives, and having an incredible opportunity to participate in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, this week included a great deal of growth for me as a student, leader, and advocate. I am proud to represent SkillsUSA MA as the State Vice President! We began our advocacy visits in a meeting with Rep. Jim McGovern of the 2nd District of MA. We shared our stories as students in Career and Technical Education (CTE), and advocated for Perkins funding, vocational school building projects, as well as support for CTE within congress. In our meeting at the U.S. Department of Labor the SkillsUSA Massachusetts State Officers met with Deputy Secretary Nikki McKinney, where we learned about the state of the workforce in our nation, and advocated for our training programs. Learning more about the skills gap, or in the eyes of the DoL, the good job shortage, proved to be an impactful moment of this trip. Next, an impromptu meeting on the steps of the House of Representatives with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA-04) gave us the opportunity to share the importance of CTE to building Americas workforce, and ensuring national security. We ended off a busy day with a meeting in Senator Elizabeth Warren's office with her educational policy staff. In this meeting we shared stories as SkillsUSA members, and the importance of Perkins funding, as well as renewing and rebuilding vocational schools across the state of Massachusetts. On another note, I am also proud to share that I have received the National Statesman Award from SkillsUSA for demonstrating knowledge of CTE and Communication skills. This year, WLTI was an extremely impactful conference for me, I am thankful to serve SkillsUSA Massachusetts as a State Officer, and advocate for those in our state as their voice for better vocational education.

This week, SkillsUSA members had the opportunity to show off the leadership and advocacy skills they learned on Capitol Hill. With huddle groups hosted by national staff and our national officer team at the Washington Leadership Training Institute, we learned about career development and our occupational identities. I had the privilege of meeting with Congressman Jim McGovern, representative of Massachusetts’ 2nd congressional district and Congressman Jake Auchincloss representative of the state’s 4th congressional district. Both had a strong interest in career and technical education and felt empowered to represent it on the national level. At the Department of Labor, the Massachusetts state officer team met with Deputy Secretary Nikki McKinney who was truly a passionate advocate for CTE. She provided insight on the skills gap, or good job problem as she refers to it, stressing the importance of skilled labor. Finally, the state officer team met with Senator Elizabeth Warren’s policy staff to communicate the necessity of perkins and state funding toward technical schools. WLTI is a leadership experience like no other, and it was an honor to represent this event as a national officer. I made so many connections, learned about our nation’s leadership, and helped SkillsUSA members ignite their potential! #Wlti24

Over the weekend, our director of DE&I, David Jordan, MA, CDP (DJ), was a panelist on the SkillsUSA Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI) Advocacy Panel. The four-day WLTI conference in Washington, D.C. offers SkillsUSA students and advisors the opportunity to advocate for career and technical education (CTE) and skilled trades. During the Advocacy Panel, DJ helped SkillsUSA members prepare for their visit to Capitol Hill, where student delegates meet with elected officials to advocate for continued career and technical education support. The preparation focused on how students can conduct themselves in meetings with congressional leaders and engage with them in conversation. We are proud to continue to partner with SkillsUSA to develop tomorrow's skilled trades workforce and help to close the nationwide skills gap. #Aerotek4Tomorrow #WLTI24

#WLTI24 Arrival ✅ Advocacy Pre-work ✅ Next up: Visits to Capitol Hill! Thanks to an incredible panel of advocacy experts, our members are ready to take their passion for CTE and SkillsUSA and share it with their legislators. We are extremely grateful to: -Brian Arata, Legislative Director to Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson -David Jordan, MA, CDP, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) and Social Responsibility at Aerotek -Jimmy Koch, Government Relations Manager for the Association for Career and Technical Education -Richard Montgomery, Public Policy Director for the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) -Steve Voytek, Federal Policy Advisor for Advance CTE Thank you for ensuring our members are prepared for productive conversations to advocate for CTE and #SkillsUSA!

SkillsUSA members, don’t miss the chance to apply for the Aerotek "Make Your Mark" Scholarship, offering up to $5,000 for Spring 2025! Apply by Nov 4 and take a step towards our mission of fueling the skilled talent pipeline. For more details and eligibility, visit bit.ly/AerotekMYM25  #SkillsUSA #Aerotek4Tomorrow #MYMScholarship

Join us in celebrating the incredible journey of our WorldSkills Lyon 2024 contestant Brady Kroll! 🎉 His hard work and dedication have brought him to France, and we couldn't be more proud. We can't wait to see what the future holds for this talented individual. SkillsUSA #PHCCAcademy #OwnYourFuture #BradySeries

At SkillsUSA, we honor the contributions of Hispanic Americans in skilled trades and education. Let's continue to embrace diversity and empower all students to lead in their fields. #HispanicHeritageMonth #SkillsUSA #DiversityInTech

The results are in… Congratulations to Wyatt Hansen, bronze medalist of the 2024 WorldSkills Welding Competition in Lyon, France. On his win, Wyatt shares, “It’s been an honor being able to represent the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA at 47th world skills!! Brought home the bronze medal 🥉 All of the hard work, time and dedication paid off!! Thanks to everyone that helped and thank you to all my sponsors as well!!!” ➡️ Double tap to clap 👏 🔹 #americanweldingsociety #worldskills2024 #worldskillsusa