National Leadership & Skills Conference

June 22-26, 2020 • Louisville, KY

The National Leadership and Skills Conference pits competitors against the best of the best from all across the country and encourages students to reach their highest potential. We invite you to join us for a competitive, action packed week in Louisville, Ky!

National Leadership and Skills Conference 2019 in Review

The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Louisville, Kentucky, took place June 24-28, 2019 as part of the SkillsUSA 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. The SkillsUSA Championships is the national-level competition for public high school and college/postsecondary technical students enrolled in career and technical education programs. SkillsUSA organizes this event, and it is considered the single greatest day of industry volunteerism in America every year at an estimated cost of more than $36 million.

During the week, more than 6,500 outstanding career and technical education students—all state contest winners competed hands-on in 103 different trade, technical and leadership fields. Students worked against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations like plumbing, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, automotive service technology and broadcast news production. All contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. In addition, leadership contestants demonstrated their skills, which included extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure.

Top student winners received gold, silver and bronze medallions. Many also received prizes such as tools of their trade and/or scholarships to further their careers and education. In addition, high scorers in the contests received Skill Point Certificates.

SkillsUSA Georgia High School brought home 11 Gold medallions, 3 Silver medallions, and 10 Bronze medallions. Including SkillsUSA Georgia College/Postsecondary medallion count, the state of Georgia brought home 78 medallions.

A pinnacle achievement for SkillsUSA members as part of the Work Force Ready System is the awarding of Skill Point Certificates. Earning a Skill Point Certificate is a significant achievement that documents a student’s knowledge and abilities within a certain area. This criterion is developed and endorsed by industry representatives. Eighty-six Georgia students earned Skill Point Certificates, signifying that they achieved technical competencies and proficiency on the national level.

This year Georgia, once again, was represented in the Chapter Excellence Program (CEP). CEP honors chapter achievement relative to the SkillsUSA framework of developing personal, workplace and technical skills. The framework actualizes SkillsUSA’s mission “to empower members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.” It also serves as the blueprint for career readiness — our ultimate goal as an organization. Paramount to framework success is the creation and implementation of an effective program of work — SkillsUSA’s planning tool for chapters. By participating in program of work activities, SkillsUSA chapters become conduits for meaningful student growth. The CEP recognizes these efforts by offering every chapter an opportunity to attain measurable competencies in pursuit of framework objectives. Georgia had three of the 24 chapters that were competing for the ultimate SkillsUSA recognition, the Model of Excellence Chapter.

The chapters that competed were Cross Keys High School, Greenbrier High School and Grovetown High School.

National Leadership and Skills Conference Georgia Highlights at a Glance: