ALEXANDRIA, LA - Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) will host a ceremonial launch and press briefing at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Downtown Alexandria Campus at 516 Murray Street to announce plans for the 2023 SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Louisiana State Championships. LCTCS will host the event April 2-5 at the Randolph Riverfront Center in downtown Alexandria.
“This is a great opportunity for people to come to learn about SkillsUSA and how they can be part of the event,” explained Dr. Damian Glover, Associate Director of Strategic Engagement & Programs for the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS).
SkillsUSA offers competitions in three broad categories – Leadership Development, Occupational, and Skilled and Technical Sciences. Glover said students from the community and technical colleges across the state would compete in more than 50 leadership and skills categories. “The SkillsUSA program provides tremendous benefits to our cities, state, and nation. It is a great recruiting tool for K-12 schools as well as higher education,” he said.
CLTCC Chancellor Dr. Jimmy Sawtelle noted that this will be the first time the state championship will be held in Alexandria. “We are very excited about the opportunity to host this tremendous event,” Dr. Sawtelle said. “SkillsUSA offers our students an opportunity to develop their leadership and technical skills and then compete against the best students from across the state and the nation This is a great opportunity for the students and will provide a wonderful opportunity for local businesses to come to see first-hand the tremendous talent that is available not only at CLTCC but from across the state.”
SkillsUSA is a national organization in which students, instructors, and business and industry partners work together to produce a “highly skilled” American workforce. The 2022 National Leadership & Skills Conference featured more than 12,000 students, teachers, education leaders, and representatives from 650 national corporations, trade associations, businesses, and labor unions.
More than 70 individuals from LCTCS colleges participated in the national conference in 2022. Over one dozen students received gold, silver, or bronze placement.
“We are incredibly proud of all of our SkillsUSA team members,” Dr. Sawtelle said. “Historically, our students have done very well at the state competition and for the past two years, we have had CLTCC students win medals at the national competition. These awards are a wonderful recognition for our students, but the real winners will be the people here in Central Louisiana and the businesses that hire these outstanding students and the patients and customers that they serve.”
The official conference program can be found online at skillsusalouisiana.org on March 1.
About SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a vital solution to the growing U.S. skills gap. The nonprofit partnership of students, instructors, and industry ensures America has the skilled workforce it needs to stay competitive. Endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education, the association serves more than 360,000 member students and instructors each year in middle schools, high schools, and colleges. This diverse talent pipeline covers 130 trade, technical, and skilled service occupations, the majority STEM-related. More than 600 corporations, trade associations, businesses, and labor unions actively support SkillsUSA at the national level. SkillsUSA empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders, and responsible American citizens as it improves the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce. SkillsUSA supports its student members by developing the SkillsUSA Framework of the personal, workplace, and technical skills grounded in academics. Local, state, and national championships, designed and judged by industry, set relevant standards for career and technical education and provide recognition opportunities for students. SkillsUSA also offers technical skill assessments and workplace credentials through the SkillsUSA Career Essentials program, a cutting-edge solution that defines, implements, and measures career readiness skills for students. For more information: www.SkillsUSA.org.
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