Setting students up for success

By Emma Peterson.

As SkillsUSA celebrates its 62nd year, we take a look at all the work they have done for students around the country.

In a new episode of Contractor Outlook™, Heidi J. Ellsworth got the chance to sit down with Chelle Travis, the executive director of SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA is the number one workforce development organization for students in the United States. They serve over 440,000 students and educators with programs in over 130 occupational areas (ranging from cake decorating to construction).

The mission of SkillsUSA is simple, as Chelle put it, “Our mission is to empower students to become skilled professionals, career ready leaders and responsible community members.”

How do they do that? Through a series of events and programming carefully designed to give “students the opportunity to put not only their technical skills, but also their very important workplace and personal skills into practice.” A great example of this type of event is their annual championships!

The SkillsUSA championship brings their organization together to give students a stage to showcase their skills and talents! Chelle gave some details on the event, sharing, “It is 31 football fields of skilled competition under one roof, alongside a tradeshow where business and industry partners and associations have the opportunity to engage with our future skill professionals.”

And the best part? It’s working. Since their founding back in the 1960s, millions of young people have found pathways to success in the trades. Looking back at it, Chelle shared some thoughts:

We're now entering into year sixty-two. And we couldn’t be more proud of our six decades strengthening the connection between education and industry so that students understand the opportunities available to them and are set up for successful careers when they enter into the workforce.

Listen to the whole Contractor Outlook or Watch the conversation with Chelle to learn more about SkillsUSA!