SkillsUSA Louisiana Fall Leadership Information
SkillsUSA Louisiana's first planned event of the year is the 2022 Fall Leadership conference. This years Fall Leadership Conference will be help in person back in Lafayette's ULL campus. This important conference will be held at the University of Louisiana Lafayette - Student Union 620 McKinley Street, Lafayette, LA 70504 and the CAJUNDOME convention center – 444 CAJUNDOME Blvd, Lafayette, La 70506. Your participation in this worthwhile activity will demonstrate the special interest that you have in the growth and development of your students. The purpose of this event is to help train local chapter officers and leaders to perform their duties in their home high school campuses. This event is open to members and Non members alike. Use the link below to access the Informational packet.
Register by Nov. 15 for Extra Member Benefits
Becoming a professional member of SkillsUSA is one of the best ways to demonstrate to students the opportunities that membership provides. As a benefit of membership, professional members receive online access to:
• Framework Integration Toolkit: The Framework Integration Toolkit has everything you need to ensure career readiness for students, including videos, lesson plans, activities and more.
• Program of Work Toolkit: The Program of Work Toolkit includes the Program of Work Launch Activity Guides, videos and resources to help you implement effective activities.
• Jump into Stem: A chapter curriculum for members to mentor and engage elementary and middle school students in STEM learning while creating an opportunity for future recruitment.
• SkillsUSA Championships Technical Standards: The official rules and regulations for each of the 2022 SkillsUSA Championships competitions.
• E-Courses: Includes SkillsUSA Framework Certification; CTE Knowledge Certification; Promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a SkillsUSA Leader; and Building Self-Motivation in Student Leaders.
• Advisor Professional Development: A variety of training opportunities, from webinars to classroom to multi-day sessions. You’ll find a lot of options for differing training needs.
As a special membership incentive, teachers who register at least 15 student members plus one or more professionals by Nov. 15 will receive a complimentary copy of the SkillsUSA Member Handbook. The SkillsUSA Member Handbook is the official guide to help members run successful chapters. To support chapter officer development, teachers that meet the Nov. 15 deadline will also receive a discount on this resource (buy five SkillsUSA Member Handbooks and get the sixth one free)! A coupon code will be included with your incentive mailing.
Dues for professional members are $28. View or download this PDF for 2022-23 state dues and deadlines, and you can find our registration site here.
SkillsUSA Week T-shirt Design Challenge
SkillsUSA is seeking student designs for the official T-shirt of SkillsUSA Week 2023. One design will be selected and produced by the SkillsUSA Store. The contest is open to all paid student members. Only one entry per SkillsUSA member is permitted. Designs should be appropriate for use on a red T-shirt and follow the design specifications outlined in the Challenge Guide. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. ET.
Give Your Chapter’s Service Projects a National Spotlight
SkillsUSA is on the lookout for local community service project stories to publish in the Spotlight section of our SkillsUSA Champions digital hub. If your chapter has completed a project for your community or plans to complete one this school year, please email information and photos to editors Jane Short and Hayley Uffelman, and one of them will reach out to you. This is a great assignment for a local chapter reporter. Any story leads are also appreciated.
SkillsUSA Week T-shirt Design Challenge
SkillsUSA is seeking student designs for the official T-shirt of SkillsUSA Week 2023. One design will be selected and produced by the SkillsUSA Store. The contest is open to all paid student members. Only one entry per SkillsUSA member is permitted. Designs should be appropriate for use on a red T-shirt and follow the design specifications outlined in the Challenge Guide. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. ET.
No-Cost Virtual Industry Panels Available to Your Chapter
On Wednesday, Nov. 16, SkillsUSA will host Pour the IndusTEA, an industry panel discussion specific to each career cluster that we cover! This high-energy, informative experience will connect students with business and industry panelists. We invite classrooms to attend this career-focused event to gain useful insight and information about the industries they are stepping into. Learn more and register by Nov. 2 here.
One-on-One Coaching on the Chapter Excellence Program
Is your chapter strategizing on how to take your Chapter Excellence Program (CEP) application to the next level, or does your chapter need help getting started? SkillsUSA now offers one-on-one coaching sessions with our CEP and Program of Work (PoW) coach, Kelli Engelbrecht. Learn how to integrate the SkillsUSA Framework, articulate your SMART goals and select and evaluate your Essential Element within your CEP application. Schedule your 30-minute Zoom coaching appointment here. For questions, contact Kelli Engelbrecht.
Career Essentials Support for Instructors
If you are beginning your journey with SkillsUSA Career Essentials, support from SkillsUSA is available every step of the way! Instructors can call 844-875-4557 or email careeressentials@skillsusa.org to:
· Order Career Essentials for your students
· Develop an implementation plan
· Create administrative accounts for new instructors
· Set up and log into your account
· Use the dashboard to monitor progress and performance
· Learn about Career Essentials and the Absorb learning management system
· Learn about recent revisions to Career Essentials that make it easier for instructors to implement the program and monitor progress
If you are interested in learning more about using Career Essentials to define, implement and measure the development of career-readiness skills in your classroom, register for a Career Essentials overview here
Social media is a powerful presence in the lives of most young people, including SkillsUSA members. Social media is more than a social connection tool — chapter posts can inspire action, create awareness or showcase SkillsUSA to the community. Social media can also be a tool to see the work being done in different communities and create more member awareness of upcoming events, conferences, scholarships and deadlines. Encourage your members to tag @SkillsUSA in their chapter posts. Be sure to follow our national social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and have your chapter reporter post and share regularly on your school channels and state channels. Assign your chapter reporter to cover and share your activities regularly on social media and build a stronger following of members, administrators and partners. You are welcome to share any national SkillsUSA posts as you wish. If you have questions about social media, contact Hayley Uffelman, our social media program manager, at huffelman@skillsusa.org. She is happy to help and share resources.
ACTE Webinars Can Help Integrate IAED into Your Classroom
The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) offers webinars to support CTE educators with quality professional learning, including a series of upcoming Inclusion, Access, Equity and Diversity (IAED) webinars that focus on supporting marginalized groups of students in CTE. Register and join these webinars live or catch the replay of presentations here. The conversations are timely and support high quality teaching practices within the classroom, as well as the SkillsUSA Framework. Coming up on Oct. 20, educators will discuss how to ensure accessibility for students with disabilities.
SkillsUSA Technical Fridays Workshops
Join us for “SkillsUSA Technical Fridays,” a series of virtual workshops led by industry experts to help teachers develop specific technical skills relevant to their career fields. Leave the sessions with new knowledge and skills to implement in the classroom. Learn more about the workshops here.
· On Oct. 21, from 4-5 p.m. ET, offensive security consultant Kyle Boyer will discuss providing vulnerability assessment, pen-testing and red-teaming services to large organizations, helping them assess their security posture as well as proactively identifying security weak points before a potential breach. The workshop will provide a high-level overview of the pen-testing process followed by a deep dive into the reconnaissance and enumeration phases of a penetration test. It will also cover open-source intelligence gathering techniques which can be used to gather general information about a target company.
Workshops are free but space is limited. Register here. If you have questions, contact Karolina Belen.
A Wealth of Professional Development This Fall
Join other SkillsUSA advisors for our fall Professional Development offerings to assist you in launching the new school year. Register for all sessions at least 24 hours in advance through absorb.skillsusa.org. Here are some upcoming sessions:
· Oct. 19 at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. ET — Chapter Excellence Program (CEP). Explore the 10 phases of CEP planning and guide your SkillsUSA chapter to success by creating relevant activities that encourage student participation. This session will walk you through the CEP application and provide best practice tips.
· Oct. 20 at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET — Communicating Value of Career Readiness. Educators know that career readiness impacts our students’ future, but how do we get our students to see that workforce readiness skills are essential to their success and learning them is worth investing their time? During this session, you will learn ways to communicate the value of the SkillsUSA Framework to students as you discover how to motivate them to prioritize career readiness.
Learn more about all fall professional development offerings from SkillsUSA's online training calendar. For questions, contact Karolina Belen.
SkillsUSA Store Highlights Logo Drinkware
With the new school year in full swing, check out the SkillsUSA Store for new drinkware essentials from tumblers to travel mugs and water bottles. The
SkillsUSA store has drinkware containers for all of your member on-the-go needs. The SkillsUSA Store also offers free shipping on all purchases, so it’s a great time to stock up on member giveaway items and holiday gifts for supporters and administrators.
It’s Not Too Late to Support the Trades in Fashion
SkillsUSA has once again teamed up with Tractor Supply Company (TSC) and Carhartt for a “Support the Trades” campaign, designed to raise awareness of the skilled trades while helping SkillsUSA close the skilled trades gap. Carhartt and TSC are offering an expanded “Support the Trades” line of shirts and hats designed by Carhartt, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to SkillsUSA! The exclusive T-shirts and hats for women and men are now available at Tractor Supply Online or your local TSC store. Check out this promotional video and follow the campaign on SkillsUSA’s social media this fall. This campaign ends soon so order your shirts now.