SkillsUSA’s national officers stood tall, buttoned their red blazers and converged on Washington, D.C., in February to celebrate SkillsUSA Week and advocate for SkillsUSA on behalf of all our members. To kick off the annual week of excitement, the officers joined executive director Chelle Travis to host a breakfast at D.C.’s Old Ebbitt Grill. The breakfast was designed to thank legislators for their support of career and technical education. Attending were Rep. Glenn Thompson (Pa.) and staff of Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Rep. Jim Langevin (R.I.). Also attending were staff from the U.S. Department of Education, ACTE and SkillsUSA business partners from 3M, Universal Technical Institute and Snap-on Inc. Rep. Thompson spoke at the breakfast, and his support of SkillsUSA in a speech to the U.S. House of Representatives aired on C-SPAN.
Later that day, the officer team traveled to the U.S. Department of Labor to meet with assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration John Pallasch and acting deputy administrator for the Office of Workforce Development Robin Fernkas. Joining them was principal deputy under secretary Diane Auer Jones from the U.S. Department of Education. The group discussed SkillsUSA programs and events, credentialing through the SkillsUSA Career Essentials suite, and the importance of SkillsUSA as a skills gap solution. The next day, two national officers delivered a presentation at the French Embassy to labor officials from several countries.
