Wauzeka-Steuben Students take part in SkillsUSA conference
Devyn Allert (left) and Elyse Sims (right) work together at the team engineering competition during the SkillsUSA Wisconsin State Leadership and Skills Conference on April 1 and 2. Teams of two to three students worked on designing and constructing a house that could resist inclement weather as part of their assessment. (Photos by Steve Van Kooten)
(Left to right, front row) Technology and Engineering Professional Educator Riley Blair, William Zander, Clint Mitchell, Zoey Jelinek, Ali Jelinek, Devyn Allert and Aaliyah Lathrop. (Left to right, back row) Bentley Dums, Cody Wagner, Stetson Zeeh, Josh Martin (partially obstructed), Cooper Lomas Elyse Sims and Brad Gillitizer. Wauzeka-Steuben students taking part in the team engineering competition along with two advisors.
Approximately 30 students from Wauzeka-Steuben competed in Madison
By Steve Van Kooten
SkillsUSA’s 52nd Wisconsin State Leadership and Skills Conference took place on April 1 and 2 in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center and Madison Area Technical College.
More than 1,700 students, 200 teachers and 300 industry volunteers participated in this year’s event.
“Look at all of these young people here,” said Tom Martin, Wauzeka-Steuben Board of Education member and CESA 3 career and life ready team member. “These are the future workforce.”
The conference included individual and team competitions as well as woodwork and metal pieces submitted for judging at the event. The first-place winners in each category will compete at the National SkillsUSA Championship in Atlanta, Ga., in June.
SkillsUSA’s roots go back to the 1960s, when it was the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA), according to Martin.
“SkillsUSA started as a challenge. It was an organization built to provide a qualified workforce. It’s really building these kids to be as career- and life-ready as they can be.”
The terms “technical” and “trade” have expanded over time; it’s not just metal fabrication and automotive repair. SkillsUSA hosts competitions in 80 categories as disparate as video production, photography, woodworking and robotics.
For students to perform well in many of the events, they must demonstrate their underlying “soft skills,” like leadership, communication and collaboration, which have become increasingly valuable in the professional world.
“There are other sides that they don’t always get in schools. There’s that teamwork piece. How do they work together with their peers? How do they get along in their workplace? It’s an organization that focuses on those as well as the hard skills,” said Mike Berry, Wisconsin state director for SkillsUSA Wisconsin College/Post-Secondary Association.
“Kids are coming out of programs technically able to do the work but not always able to articulate it,” said Martin. “We’re trying to get them as prepared as possible once they take that first step out of school.”
Berry pointed out that employers are looking for workers with the ability to problem solve, manage conflict and adapt to new situations.
”Businesses are not telling us they need hard skills. They’re telling us they need people who have all of these soft skills. We can do our best to teach that, but they have to see outside of the classroom to really make it hit home. This is one of those areas where they can come and understand the importance of that,” he said.
Carl Hader, technical judge for the automotive service technology, automotive maintenance and light repair competitions and certified master auto technician, said that the competitive challenges give students additional ways for them to see advances in skilled trades and hone their abilities.
“For the new generation of kids, who have been used to living with some computerization and some mechanical stuff, it’s pretty comfortable,” Hader said. “The generation coming up has skills that are needed out there.”
“I think our job is to provide every opportunity for those students to gain success, and this is another avenue for them to gain successful habits,” Berry said. “As a teacher, my hope is not to make a technician. It’s to make a successful human being.”
Future leaders
Approximately 30 students from the Wauzeka-Steuben School District attended the state leadership and skills conference.
Martin noted that Wauzeka-Steuben partners with five career and technical organizations, which also include Future Business Leaders of America, Wisconsin FFA, and Health Occupations Students of America, to provide diverse educational resources for their students.
“They’re still getting math, science and English — all of it — but it’s in their pathway when coupled with our CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organizations),” he said.
Some students participated at the conference in other capacities, including Mallory McCullick, who ran for a state office position with SkillsUSA.
William Zander, a junior at Wauzeka-Steuben, participated as a voting delegate this year.
“We vote on the new rules for next year, and we vote on the next state officers — the people that represent SkillsUSA next year,” he said.
“William stepped out of his comfort zone, and we fully encourage that,” Martin said. “But he decided to do this, and that’s going to strengthen him down the road. These are two of the leadership capacities that Mike [Berry] talked about.”
Amy Jelinek, mother of two Wauzeka-Steuben students, Zoey and Ali, said that groups like SkillsUSA give students the resources to explore options in the trades.
“When I was going to college, it was like cosmetology, daycare and nursing. This is Zoey’s first year [in SkillsUSA], and she didn’t even know these were all considered trades. They have cosmetology, and they added baking this year. It broadens their horizons in terms of what you can really do at a trade school.”
