Alexandria, LA (4/15/2024) — More than 225 students from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System will converge in Alexandria to attend the 2024 SkillsUSA Louisiana Leadership and Skills Conference and demonstrate their proficiency and knowledge in various work-skill categories.
The future workforce of Louisiana will be on display April 15–17 at competitions held at Central Louisiana Technical Community College, Randolph Riverfront Center, and other venues in downtown Alexandria. Louisiana’s gold medalists will advance to the national SkillsUSA Championships this June in Atlanta.
This marks the third consecutive year CLTCC has hosted the SkillsUSA state competition. “There will be hundreds of students competing in events related to business, allied health, practical nursing, welding, carpentry, HVAC, advanced manufacturing, and more,” said CLTCC Alexandria campus Dean Lisa Doney. “These students span the state, and several of Louisiana’s Community and Technical Colleges will be participating in the event we are proud to have hosted with several Alexandria-Pineville partners since 2022.
SkillsUSA is a national organization that seeks to improve the quality of the nation’s future skilled workforce by developing students’ personal, technical, and workforce skills. “SkillsUSA is an incredible program in that it creates a pathway to opportunity for students while celebrating their talents and their commitment to excellence in their trades,” said CLTCC Chancellor Jimmy Sawtelle. “It also offers our local businesses an opportunity to see first-hand the tremendous talent available not only at CLTCC but from across the state.” There are SkillsUSA chapters in all colleges within the LCTCS.
The competitions are free and open to the public. “We’d love for individuals from the community to join us in cheering on these remarkable students,” said Sawtelle.
About SkillsUSA
SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded in 1965 to strengthen our nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life while helping to close the skills gap in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA’s championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA’s new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has members nationwide in high schools, colleges, and middle schools, covering over 140 trade, technical, and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education.
Source: CLTCC
