A Sustainable Workforce Starts With You
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NCCER:
2012 SkillsUSA Competition
CITB:
Carpentry Skills Test
Jack Houweling:
Fastest and easiest centerline finder
CTCNC:
Carpenters: One Trade, Many Crafts
Festool USA:
Quickly ripping plywood with a Track Saw
Twitter feed about Carpenters
Tweets about "#Carpentry OR #Woodwork OR from:@ThisIsCarpentry"
According to Meredith Watassek, Director of Career and Technical Education at Fort Bend Independent School District, “A sustainable workforce starts by educating the middle and high school student and their parents and counselors to the viable career options in construction and other career and technical trades.” [node:read-more:link]
Last week, high school students from across Texas gathered to compete at the SkillsUSA State Conference in Corpus Christi. Over 8000 regional finalists were in attendance, competing in 200 competitions, vying for scholarships, awards, recognition, and a chance to compete at the national level. [node:read-more:link]
The 2016 ABC National Craft Championships (NCC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida was a two-day competition last March between over 200 craft profession trainees and students. This is the third in a series of posts featuring excerpts from conversations I had with some of the industry leaders I met at the event. While the competitors were participating in the hands-on portion of the challenge, I talked with a VP from the Mississippi Construction Education Foundation, a Project Manager for one of the craft competitions at the NCC, the Chair of ABC Illinois, and the ABC Vice President of EH&S and Workforce Development.
Patrick Etheredge, Vice President of Adult Training and Workforce Development for the Mississippi Construction Education Foundation (MCEF) was a general contractor before coming to work for MCEF in 2015. I asked what sort of opportunities competing in the NCC competition could bring to the future craft professionals. [node:read-more:link]
I recently wrote about a Workforce Development Graduation honoring 21 Helpers, 19 Mechanics, and 9 Foremen who had recently completed those in-house training programs at Marek. The keynote speaker for the evening was Peter Beard, Senior Vice President for Regional Workforce Development at the Greater Houston Partnership. Mike Holland, Chief Operating Officer at Marek, presented Beard with a certificate of appreciation for his work in the Houston community. It stated:
“The young men and women we are recognizing tonight will relate to their coaches, peers, supervisors, and workforce development staff as advocates for their future. Behind the scenes, other advocates are working tirelessly to create a better path forward for all craft professionals. [node:read-more:link]
Talent and leadership are alive and well in America’s youth! Last month, I attended the SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. First of all, WOW! 6,000 students competed in 100 competitions from baking to welding to graphic design to carpentry all under one roof. These students are the best of the best skilled young people that America has to offer, and they were competing for the gold medal in just about every industry sector.
After seeing the competitions firsthand, I have to ask: Were you there? Did you attend your state’s SkillsUSA competition? Do you know what SkillsUSA is? As an industry, we cannot sit back and complain that we do not have enough skilled young people to fill our open positions if we are not willing to invest the time and energy into connecting with organizations that are doing it right. I am very lucky that my job allows me to travel around the country and meet the wonderful, hardworking people who make up the construction and maintenance industries. But at the same time, I am astounded at how many of them are unaware of SkillsUSA. [node:read-more:link]
