Students, teachers and industry leaders come together at Oregon SkillUSA to inspire the next generation.
What do a builder, a coder, a leader and an artist have in common? Skills. And they were on full display at the Oregon SkillsUSA state competition in April. This two-day competition held at Knife River National Training Center in Albany, Oregon, determines which students will advance to the national competition June 23-27 in Atlanta, Georgia. Having already competed at a regional level, these students have refined their skills and are competing amongst their peers in one of more than 130 skills ranging from masonry, cosmetology and carpentry to photography, robotics and prepared speech.
Having attended the national competition last year to report on the roofing competition, I was eager to see more students showcase their skills in my home state. Chuck Young, Oregon SkillsUSA director, shared that there are 175,000 students enrolled in CTE in Oregon. Of those, 750 students were in Albany competing in 86 skills, which is 150 more students than last year. The hope is to build on this momentum and continue to grow the state competition to highlight even more skills (roofing included) and get more students involved. Roofing was one of the skills featured in last year’s competition, with a student from Oregon advancing to the national level. Opportunities like these depend on strong industry support and dedicated volunteers, which is why there’s hope to bring roofing back to the competition lineup next year.
I’ve found that SkillsUSA is a lot like roofing, once you’re involved, it’s hard to leave. And that rings true based on the conversations I had with Kimberly Herder, Board of Champions for Oregon SkillsUSA, Jason Blackwell, founder and owner of ActivateCTE, and Daniel Langston, vocational tech teacher for engineering/manufacturing at Eagle Point High School and SkillsUSA advisor as a tech chair…