SkillsUSA Georgia News 2007-2008

Alumni Spotlight

SkillsUSA Georgia is extremely fortunate to have a very active Alumni Association!  The following alumni traveled to Jekyll Island, Georgia to assist with the Fall Leadership Conference:  Marcus Dennis, DeMarcus Dixon, Trae Cannon, Corey Smith, Ashley Hopkins, Carolyn Kimbrel, Whitney Mixon, Lyndsee Miles, Brandon Griffin, and Renaldo Key.  While they were there, they were involved in numerous activities:  meeting and greeting advisors and chapter members as they registered for the conference, preparing the conference facility for sessions, working with State Officers, preparing registration materials, facilitating leadership sessions and so much more! 

www.skillsusa.org/supporters/alumni.shtml

State Officer Trakena Moore Addresses Graduation Coaches

Trakena Moore with teacher Ms. Arleather Browner

State Parliamentarian Trakena Moore addressed 500 High School Graduation Coaches at the Macon Centreplex on Tuesday, October 23.  Ms. Moore gave a passionate speech about her experiences with SkillsUSA and the devotion she feels for the organization.  She credits SkillsUSA with providing her with opportunities to develop her leadership skills and focusing her attention on possible career choices.  Trakena also discussed the many travel and leadership opportunities that she has been able to take advantage of as a State Officer.  The Graduation Coaches left the meeting with a sense of excitement and enthusiasm about SkillsUSA!

Mr. John Pritchett, MIddle School Curriculum Coordinator, Georgia Department of Education with Trakena Moore
and Mr. Scott Carey, CTSO Coordinator, Georgia Department of Education

2007 SkillsUSA Georgia Fall Leadership Conference

The SkillsUSA Fall Leadership Conference was held October 5 and 6 at the Jekyll Island Convention Center on Jekyll Island, Georgia.  Over 1,000 students and advisors from 100 chapters across the state joined together to enjoy a weekend full of leadership and team building opportunities.  During the Opening General Session, Brunswick High School ROTC presented the colors and Skip Brown along with Kelly Glass sang the National Anthem.  Mr. Leon Quan presented the keynote address and encouraged SkillsUSA members to strive for their best in all of their pursuits.  Saturday morning, members attended leadership sessions and then enjoyed lunch and a swim at Summer Waves Park.  During the afternoon, participants learned how to develop a program of work and implement steps to a successful chapter!

SkillsUSA members took the Statesman Award test during the weekend.  The Statesman Award is a test of member’s knowledge of SkillsUSA facts and information.  Forty-two members earned their Statesman Award by scoring a perfect mark of 100% on the test.  Overall, 184 members received their Statesman Award lapel pin! 

The following chapters and members were recognized during the conference:

The New chapter with the largest membership:  Alcovy High School.
The Existing Chapter with the largest membership:  Maxwell High School of Technology
Early Bird Award Recipients:
Alcovy High School
Bainbridge High School
Bleckley County High School
Chattooga High School
Cherokee High School
Dutchtown High School
Lovejoy High School – Construction Section
Mary Persons High School – DCT Section
Ridgeland High School
Union County High School

Chapter Image Award Recipients:
Appling County High School
Camden County High School
Maxwell High School of Technology
100% Statesman Award Recipients

Dalton High School Statesman Awards

Ten Dalton High students earned the SkillsUSA Statesman Award during the Fall Leadership Conference during Fall Break. The Conference is held every year in Jekyll Island, Georgia.  SkillsUSA members throughout Georgia participate in leadership, team building, employability, and legislative advocacy workshops. The SkillsUSA motto is “Champions at Work.” Guest speaker Leon Quan motivated students to take this motto further and become champions of choices, champions of ideas, and champions of performance. “Everyday you are engineering the path that you want,” said Quan.  The Students take an exam covering information about SkillsUSA to earn the Statesman Award. Ruben Garza passed with 100 percent and received a special honor.Nine students passed with at least 85 percent correct and received a Statesman Award pin.  These students are Cecy Sanchez, Mayra Cisneros, Julie Miller, Asher Tchoua, Jeremy Pryor, David Ramos, Alexis Gonzalez, Jose Berrera, and Kesan Patel.Brittney Edwards and Marisela Cisneros also attended the conference.

SkillsUSA Georgia State Officers Attend Washington Leadership Training Institute on Capitol Hill

A delegation of 18 career, technical and agricultural education students and instructors representing Georgia met with four congressional leaders on September 18, 2007:  Representative Lynn Westmoreland, Representative Sanford Bishop, Senator Johnny Isakson, and Senator Saxby Chambliss.  Congressional visits are a regular part of SkillsUSA’s Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI).

The five-day Washington Leadership Training Institute is sponsored each year by SkillsUSA to provide students an opportunity to learn about Washington and the democratic process.  This year’s delegations discussed the value of their education; the value of public career and technical education to their respective states; the quality of their education and training; their occupational plans; and, the benefits of their participation in SkillsUSA.  They explained that today’s workplace requires people with leadership, teamwork and communication skills to participate in high-quality systems.  SkillsUSA has been successful in developing these skills in students of all ages and backgrounds.

The Washington Leadership Training Institute is a “capstone” leadership and citizenship training event to which students must apply for admission.  WLTI concentrates on advanced communications skills, including working with the news media and the inner workings of government.

Following is a list of those attending from Georgia: Jarrod Price, Alisha Smalley, Kelly Glass, Trakena Moore, Morgan Hunt, Victoria Slagle, Natalie Sanders, Trenesia Williams, Tim Cockrell, Linda Jackson, Judy Glass, Phyllis Johnson, Amy Hicks, Gayle Silvey, Arleather Browner, Reginald Browner, Briuna Browner, and Sonny Cannon.

SkillsUSA is a national organization serving more than 285,000 high school and college students and professional members who are enrolled in training programs in technical, skills, and service occupations.  It has the active support of over 1,100 corporations, trade associations, businesses and labor unions at the national level.  Student membership in SkillsUSA offers leadership, citizenship and character development programs and activities to complement skills training.  Its programs help students prepare to go to work.  SkillsUSA emphasizes respect for the dignity of work, high standards in trade ethics, workmanship, scholarship and safety.  It promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and encourages the development of patriotism through democratic practices in local chapters.

SkillsUSA: Champions at Work

The Harris County Community Service team has been working hard all summer to promote their “Welcome to the Real World” project. This program has two aspects; a job fair for the students and the public, and the other is a senior seminar to prepare seniors for life after high school whether it is in the work force, college or military. The goals for this program are very simple: to lower the unemployment rate in our local community and to inform the students of essential information that they need to know to survive in the “Real World”.  

Since winning a silver medal at National competition, the team has been inspired to share their program with community. They spoke at the Rotary Club meeting to encourage the members to participate in the project.  They asked them to volunteer and to speak in their area of expertise.  They also shared their project with the Columbus Chamber of Commerce at the Partners in Education Conference.  They hope to incorporate this program into other schools in our area. They have plans to speak with the Columbus PTA board in hopes of expanding the program.  The team is presently working with Harris County Carver Middle School to revise the program to help 8th graders with taking the next step, moving up to high school. The Community Service Team is optimistic for the program, and is planning to make it bigger and better than ever.

Local Student Wins Bronze Medal in National SkillsUSA Screen Printing Technology Competition

L to R: High School medalists— Bronze-Victoria E. Slagle, Troup County Comprehensive High School (Ga.);
Gold-Kristy Sevener, Slinger High School (Wisc.);
and Silver-Jeremy M. Carnathan, Fairfield Career and Technical Center (S.C.)

Kansas City, MO – Victoria Slagle, a sophomore at Troup High School, was awarded the Bronze medal in the Screen Printing Technology at the annual National Leadership and Skills Conference and SkillsUSA Championships.  The competition was held at Bartle Hall, Municipal Auditorium and American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri.Working against the clock and each other, screen printing contestants were tested on their ability to prepare screens, print a five-color design with specialty inks on a rotary press, and register a three-color design on a rotary press. Contestants also completed a written technical knowledge test and participated in an oral professional assessment.  Victoria had the highest score of all secondary and post-secondary competitors in the written technical knowledge exam.
In preparation for the competition, Victoria spent many hours working through all of the steps necessary in the production of a printed garment.  Employees at Mud Creek Graphics in LaGrange volunteered their time and equipment to help her train.  Mud Creek Graphics owner and her father, Greg Hicks, says it was “tremendously rewarding to see all of her efforts and training pay off when she lifted her hands in the air on the winner’s platform.  All of the students had worked really hard to get to that level and they showed such a high level of professionalism.”Also competing in Power Equipment Technology was Tanner Hicks, a sophomore at Troup High School and in Automotive Technology was Scotty Thompson, a junior at Troup High School.  Both students finished in the top half of their competitions. 
Power Equipment Technology tests student skills in all areas of this technology. They must know and understand both 2 & 4 cycle engines. They should know and understand the related theories that go along with the types of engines that they will come across in the industry. They should also understand drive trains, hydraulic, as well as wiring schematics. Contestants will need to be versed in customer service. As they rotate through the various stations they are judged and scored on both physical and oral skills. They are further tested with their ability to read and follow the job tasks that are given. 
Automotive Service Technology contestants will demonstrate their ability to perform jobs and skills based on the task list outlined by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF). Workstations consist of on-vehicle, simulations, bench and component testing and a written test. Contestants will be judged on technical competency, accuracy, quality, safety and ability to follow directions. There are thirteen skill stations plus the written test.
The contests are planned by technical committees made up of representatives of labor and management and are designed to test the skills needed for a successful entry‑level performance in given occupational fields. Safety practices and procedures - an area of great concern to labor and management alike - are judged and graded and constitute a portion of a contestant’s score.
The SkillsUSA Championship is considered the largest single day of corporate volunteerism in America and valued at $30 million in industry support of donated time, equipment, cash and material.  All contests are run by and judged by industry using industry standards for employment.  Over 500 industry judges participated this year.
The SkillsUSA Championships is for high school and college-level students who are members of SkillsUSA.  More than 5,000 students from every state and three territories competed in 87 contests in technical, skilled, and service occupations.  In order to qualify for the national competition, the students competed in local, regional and state contests.  Only the state gold medal winners advanced to the national SkillsUSA Championships.
A complete list of winners, conference photos and contest descriptions can be found at www.skillsusa.org

Skills Chapters in the News

There are articles about our chapters in the Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation publication on pages:

Johnson High School - page 8
Kendrick High School - page 9
GAERF SkillsUSA Scholarship - page 14
Ringgold High school - page 16
Georgia PrintED Accredited Programs - page 18
Marietta High School - page 20  

Read the Articles : http://www.gaerf.org/about/resource%20FINAL.pdf

Cedartown High School student wins national carpentry competition

Georgia had a great reminder recently of the importance of investing in our high school construction programs.

A young man named Corey Smith represented our state at the SkillsUSA National Championships in Kansas City on June 28. Corey is from Cedartown, about 70 miles northwest of Atlanta. He is a proud graduate of the construction program at Cedartown High School. Read the full story posted below:

http://www.agcga.org/cs/root/newsletters/newsletter_07/11/07

Johnson High School - Graphic Arts Competitor

Cason Cleveland, left, a Johnson High graphic arts student, recently won a statewide graphic arts competition and is busy preparing for a national competition . Read more below:

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20070627/localnews/181473.shtml