About SkillsUSA
What is SkillsUSA?
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers, and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. This is a national organization serving more than 264,000 high school and college students and professional members who are enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations. SkillsUSA Maryland currently has 5,500 members statewide.
What is SkillsUSA's Mission Statement?
SkillsUSA's mission is to help its members become world-class workers and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA enhances the lives and careers of students--and the quality of America 's skilled workforce--by fostering citizenship, employability and occupational skills through career-focused education and industry partnerships
Where is It?
SkillsUSA has more than a quarter million student members annually, organized into 13,000 chapters and 54 state and territorial associations (including the District of Columbia , Puerto Rico , Guam and the Virgin Islands ). SkillsUSA Maryland currently has 30 local chapters representing 21 of 24 state school systems.
What's the point of it all?
SkillsUSA prepares America 's high performance workers. It provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. It emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, life-long education and pride in the dignity of work. SkillsUSA also promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activities.
Who is involved?
Approximately 13,000 teachers and school administrators serve as professional SkillsUSA members and instructors. More than 1,000 corporations, trade associations and labor unions actively support SkillsUSA on a national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions, and involvement of their people in SkillsUSA activities. Many more work directly with state associations and local chapters. SkillsUSA Maryland has 5,500 high school and professional members. Each year, hundreds of business, industry and education professionals volunteer time, expertise, equipment and materials in support of the State Skills Championships.
What else?
SkillsUSA programs include local, state and national competitions in which students demonstrate occupational and leadership skills. During the annual national-level SkillsUSA Championships, more than 4,500 students compete in 73 occupational and leadership skill areas. SkillsUSA programs also help to establish industry standards for job skill training in the classroom . Each year, the Maryland Skills Championships showcases over 800 talented Maryland Career and Technology Education students as they compete in 60 trade, technical, occupationally-related and leadership skill areas for medals, scholarships and prizes.
The Total Quality Curriculum enhances SkillsUSA's Quality at Work movement by preparing students for the world of work starting in the classroom. The curriculum emphasizes the competencies and essential workplace basic skills identified by employers and the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).
The Professional Development Program is a self-paced curriculum for secondary and college students. It teaches skills such as effective communication and management, teamwork, networking, workplace ethics, job interviewing and more. The curriculum involves local industry and academics and can be used in day-trades, apprenticeship training, cooperative education, school-to-work, academic and special needs programs.
Constitution and Bylaws
For additional information please contact:
Chuck Wallace, State Director
Maryland State Department of Education
cwallace@msde.state.md.us / 410-767-8872
mdskillsusa.org (starting September 2004)