There are many clubs around our school with different goals.
Tiger Investment Club teaches students to navigate the stock market, FFA focuses on student involvement in agriculture, and the Green Team does their best to make our school more energy efficient. All of these clubs build soft skills, but if you are interested in Skills/Leadership that can be used in the workforce, then SkillsUSA could be for you.
Skills USA prepares its members for the workforce by teaching members trade skills, leadership skills, and personal skills.
“I feel like this will give me a head start over those other people that do not participate in SkillsUSA…because I have multiple experiences with hands-on work, business applications, and bettering myself in the workplace,” said sophomore and club treasurer David Becker.
The SkillsUSA organization values hard work, dedication, and motivation. These are skills that can be applied to many areas in life. Participating in both hands-on and hands-off competitions benefit members.
“SkillsUSA helped me because I learned how to speak to people better,” said freshman Owen Hanson, the club secretary.
Although many of the competition events are hands-on, there are some that are scored based on one’s soft skills. For example, some of these events include job interviews, prepared speech, and technical math. All these competitions combine to create well rounded members.
“I think it really is a good opportunity to get involved with something in the community. SkillsUSA is a good organization, it helps fill the skills gap we talk about in our world. Trying to get kids interested in these high need jobs is really important,” said Austin Rayburn, the SkillsUSA adviser
With older workers retiring, there will be an increasing demand for those jobs. Having a background in some sort of trade skill can improve your employability, and SkillsUSA offers the opportunity to anyone who wants to invest their time in bettering themselves.
With school being out, the SkillsUSA State Conference has been canceled due to health concerns. However, meetings will resume along with all other extracurriculars. When they do, stop by one of the meetings to check it out. If you have any other SkillsUSA Questions, please email Austin Rayburn.