As a write this, I'm sitting in my 11th floor Holiday Inn room
overlooking I-70 and laughing at the people stuck in traffic,
simultaneously thanking God I don't have to drive a lick while here,
thanks to hotel shuttles.
So now, why am I in Kansas City?
Because it's a vacation?
Because I just love BBQ that much?
While I wish the above was true (the BBQ thing totally is), I'm here for work. Yeah, I got to take a FREE trip to Kansas City to attend the SkillsUSA National Competition, which takes place every year.
Now, another question, what the hell is SkillsUSA?
The short version is this, SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization serving more than 320,000 high school and college students and professional members enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations.
Last year, I was told that I would become the new SkillsUSA advisor for Mid-South Community College; a challenge that I happily(?) accepted with trepidation.
On top of my regular duties at the college, I was now tasked the duty of putting together our Internal Competition, preparing our students for the State Competition, and now, overseeing them at the National Competition. Lot's of responsibilty that completely scared me.
What if I screwed up? Would I have any help in planning? Would I even know what to do?
I'm sure I screwed up. I know that I didn't do it perfectly, but as my first year as an advisor, I would consider it a success. I took over 30 students to the State Competition in Hot Springs, AR, and of those 30, two students won Gold medals, which means they won scholarship money and a trip to the National Competition. Not bad, considering that the help I received was very minimal. Only a few people on our campus tried to help me, while others constantly criticized and bitched about how I was doing it wrong, without offering any advice on how to remedy it. Looking back, they are just a part of the problem, and need something to complain about, and I became their scapegoat.
BACK TO TASK!
So, now I'm in Kansas City with my two students and it's amazing! This is my first trip to Kansas City, and I have to say, the city is pretty amazing. The way I described it to my Tater was this, "it's a larger, cleaner, and nicer version of Memphis."
I'm assuming that everyone knows who Mike Rowe is...if you don't, please climb out from under that rock and watch some old school Discovery Channel.
Mike Rowe is an advocate for skilled labor. And for SkillsUSA.
Here are a few quotes from him about the skills gap:
"We've got millions of people looking for work and millions of jobs that nobody wants. College graduates are a trillion dollars in debt and struggling to find employment in their field of study. Meanwhile, 88% of all the available jobs don't require a four-year degree. They require specific training. So what do we do? We push a four-year degree like it's some sort of a Golden Ticket. We remove vocational education from high schools at the time we need it most. We're lending money we don't have to kids who can't pay it back, educating them for jobs that no longer exist. I'm no expert, but I'd say that's profoundly disconnected." - Mike Rowe to Bill Maher on Real Time
"Remember Rosie the Riveter? When it comes to work, we used to have American icons. Now we have American Idols. Is it any wonder no one wants to pick up a wrench?" - Mike Rowe to Oprah
Like I always say, it's not a post without some photos, so here we go!
So now, why am I in Kansas City?
Because it's a vacation?
Because I just love BBQ that much?
While I wish the above was true (the BBQ thing totally is), I'm here for work. Yeah, I got to take a FREE trip to Kansas City to attend the SkillsUSA National Competition, which takes place every year.
Now, another question, what the hell is SkillsUSA?
The short version is this, SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization serving more than 320,000 high school and college students and professional members enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations.
Last year, I was told that I would become the new SkillsUSA advisor for Mid-South Community College; a challenge that I happily(?) accepted with trepidation.
On top of my regular duties at the college, I was now tasked the duty of putting together our Internal Competition, preparing our students for the State Competition, and now, overseeing them at the National Competition. Lot's of responsibilty that completely scared me.
What if I screwed up? Would I have any help in planning? Would I even know what to do?
I'm sure I screwed up. I know that I didn't do it perfectly, but as my first year as an advisor, I would consider it a success. I took over 30 students to the State Competition in Hot Springs, AR, and of those 30, two students won Gold medals, which means they won scholarship money and a trip to the National Competition. Not bad, considering that the help I received was very minimal. Only a few people on our campus tried to help me, while others constantly criticized and bitched about how I was doing it wrong, without offering any advice on how to remedy it. Looking back, they are just a part of the problem, and need something to complain about, and I became their scapegoat.
BACK TO TASK!
So, now I'm in Kansas City with my two students and it's amazing! This is my first trip to Kansas City, and I have to say, the city is pretty amazing. The way I described it to my Tater was this, "it's a larger, cleaner, and nicer version of Memphis."
I'm assuming that everyone knows who Mike Rowe is...if you don't, please climb out from under that rock and watch some old school Discovery Channel.
Mike Rowe is an advocate for skilled labor. And for SkillsUSA.
Here are a few quotes from him about the skills gap:
"We've got millions of people looking for work and millions of jobs that nobody wants. College graduates are a trillion dollars in debt and struggling to find employment in their field of study. Meanwhile, 88% of all the available jobs don't require a four-year degree. They require specific training. So what do we do? We push a four-year degree like it's some sort of a Golden Ticket. We remove vocational education from high schools at the time we need it most. We're lending money we don't have to kids who can't pay it back, educating them for jobs that no longer exist. I'm no expert, but I'd say that's profoundly disconnected." - Mike Rowe to Bill Maher on Real Time
"Remember Rosie the Riveter? When it comes to work, we used to have American icons. Now we have American Idols. Is it any wonder no one wants to pick up a wrench?" - Mike Rowe to Oprah
Like I always say, it's not a post without some photos, so here we go!
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