SkillsUSA Launches Middle School Initiative
Leesburg, Va. (PRWEB) October 30, 2014 -- SkillsUSA, a nationwide education association dedicated to teaching employability skills to high school and college students in trade, technical and skilled service career and technical education programs, will hold a celebration of its new services to middle-school instructional programs that prepare students for future study in career and technical education pathways. The celebration will be held on October 30 in Watertown, Wisconsin at 1 p.m. CT.
“For fifty years, SkillsUSA has been preparing students for personal and career success,” said Tim Lawrence, executive director of SkillsUSA. “We’ve built a proud legacy serving high school and postsecondary students and instructors and changing nearly 12 million lives since our founding. Now we will serve middle-school career pathways courses in eleven states that have linked their pathways to high school and postsecondary career and technical education courses. SkillsUSA is happy to serve these students, to expand and enhance their education and to support the work of these state departments of education and local schools,” he said.
Featured speakers for the event include: Tony Evers, state superintendent of Wisconsin Public Instruction; Tim Lawrence, executive director, SkillsUSA; Cassandra Schug, superintendent, Watertown Public Schools; Daniela Stuckey, principal, Riverside Middle School; Sean Behymer, SkillsUSA chapter advisor, Riverside Middle School; Griffin Meyer; student chapter president, Riverside Middle School; Jay Mulligan, student vice president, Riverside Middle School; and, Brent Kindred, state director, SkillsUSA Wisconsin and chair, SkillsUSA board of directors.
SkillsUSA is welcoming middle-school members into the national organization for the first time starting with the current 2014-15 school year. Middle-school students will now be eligible to join local SkillsUSA chapters in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. Several other states have expressed an interest in serving middle schools in the near future. Middle-school members must be or have been enrolled in a middle-school exploratory course that prepares for future study in a career and technical education pathway. To learn more about the new SkillsUSA middle-school membership program, go to http://skillsusa.org/programs/middle-school/.
About SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA helps students discover and grow their career passions. As a nationwide partnership of students, instructors and industry working together, SkillsUSA works to ensure America has a skilled workforce. It helps every student excel. The nationwide career and technical education student organization annually serves more than 300,000 high school, college and postsecondary students—and their instructors—in technical, skilled, and service occupation instructional programs. Career and technical education is learning that works for America. SkillsUSA has the active support of more than 600 corporations, trade associations, business and labor unions at the national level. Over 11 million people have been annual members of SkillsUSA since its founding as the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America in on May 8, 1965. SkillsUSA programs teach leadership, citizenship and character development to complement technical skill training. The organization emphasizes respect for the dignity of work, ethics, workmanship, scholarship and safety. For more information, go to http://www.skillsusa.org
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Jane Short, SkillsUSA, http://www.SkillsUSA.org, +1 (703) 737-0612, [email protected]
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