Announcements

September 2010 Newsletter

Posted By: Logan Hotchkiss on Sep 19 2010

Advisors, Instructors, Contest Managers and Supporters

This year I will be doing a monthly newsletter to inform you of SkillsUSA news. I am sending it through email to all addresses I have for the group listed above. This information will also be available on our website.

Speaking of WEBSITE, we will have an ALL NEW website and service for Vermont SkillsUSA this year. We have contracted with Candlelight Marketing – Skills SOS for a service that will allow us to have all resources and information in one place and at your fingertips. Advisors will be able to register for membership and conferences through this site. In addition, Contest managers will be able to enter contest results into the system. This is a great step in the direction of increasing support and communication to all our constituents. There will be an advisors meeting for training on this system, and each school should send its main contact person (or two people) to this training. The tentative date for this training is October 1. This will allow sufficient time to get familiar with the site, be able to utilize it for conference registration and seek assistance, if needed. Advisors should look for further instructions in their email.

More exciting news! I met with Frank F. Carroll, member of the Senior Executive Team from Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. He is interested in supporting the Team Works Competition. This is a great opportunity for Vermont schools. Team Works members demonstrate their ability to work as a team performing skills in residential carpentry, plumbing, electricity and masonry. This could be an opportunity for schools to work together to create teams. Since there are no masonry programs in the state, it's, also, an opportunity for a schools to bring in masons to teach some lessons, and/or for students to be placed in internships in the field. Please be thinking about this opportunity. Bosch is going to completely support this competition with tools and materials, with a suggestion that the tools would go back to the schools who participate. Our technical committee will be working on a team of judges. Let me know if you might have an interested industry person, possibly from your advisory committees.

I mentioned our “technical committee.” This is a new committee for Vermont SkillsUSA, and they will design and manage contests and secure equipment, supplies, judges, prizes and awards. This is a much needed volunteer committee to ensure that all our competitions have equal support. It won't happen overnight, but the goal is to have each contest supported by industry with equipment, prizes, scholarships etc. If you are already doing some of this work, it would be great to have you as part of the committee. Please contact me for more information.

I am looking forward to a new and exciting year of changes and improvements. As Always, your support in these efforts is greatly appreciated.

Jane Donahue-Holt
Executive Director
Vermont SkillsUSA