2015 State Conference Press Release
2015 State Conference Press Release
[Minneapolis, MN, April 16,2015]
The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Bloomington, MN took place on April 10-12, 2015. The conference was a showcase of career and technical education students where more than 800 outstanding career and technical education students competed in 75 hands-on trade, technical and leadership contests. Minnesota state colleges captured gold, silver and bronze medals for 210 college division students at the SkillsUSA Minnesota 2015 State Leadership and Skills Conference, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington. The competitions focused on technical skill demonstration where students captured gold, silver and bronze medals in 75 competitive events in both divisions, with over 590 college students from 24 campuses of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities the competition focused on technical skill demonstration in 75 competitive events. Minnesota High School students captured 200 gold, silver and bronze medals for the high school division in 75 competitive events, with over 210 students from 32 high school campuses.
The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Bloomington, MN took place April 10-12, 2015, as part of the SkillsUSA 48th annual State Leadership and Skills Conference a showcase of career and technical education students. During the weekend hundreds of outstanding career and technical education students—all local contest winners competed in different trade, technical and leadership fields. During the state competition, students worked against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations like welding, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts. All contests are run with the help of over 400 industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. In addition, leadership contestants demonstrated their skills, which included extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure.
Friday afternoon’s featured Keynote speaker: Ms. Elise Groenewold, 3M Laboratory Technician, Technical Service team for 3M's Automotive Aftermarket Department in St. Paul, MN and past state and national medalist from 2014 in Collision Repair Technology. Honorary medallion presenters Sunday morning included: President Laura Urban, Alexandria Technical and Community College, Ms. Jane Nicholson, Academic Dean, Trades, Public Safety, Business & Service Careers, Century College, Ms. Judell Anderson, Executive Director of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota, Inc., Ms. Georgina Davis, Owner, Cosmetology Educational Group.
SkillsUSA Advisors of the Year for 2015 were announced: College Division: Mr. Chad Kohls, Mechanical Drafting instructor from Alexandria Technical and Community College, and Ms. Lynn Nelson, Work-Based Learning Coordinator from Mounds View High School, Arden Hills, MN. The Minnesota Precision Machining Association (MPMA) was awarded the 2015 Industry Partner of the Year, and Ms. Judell Anderson, Executive Director of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota, Inc., Ms. Georgina Davis, Owner, Cosmetology Educational Group received the Friends of SkillsUSA award for 2015.
Top student winners received gold, silver and bronze medallions. Many also received prizes such as tools of their trade and/or scholarships to further their careers and education totaling over $220, 000 and over the past seven years Minnesota students have received over 3.2 millions dollars. The SkillsUSA Championships is for high school and college-level students who are members of SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA first place winners will represent Minnesota in Louisville, Kentucky this June 22-26, 2015 for the 51st annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students.
SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA chapters help students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations excel. SkillsUSA has more than 310,000 students and instructors as members.
For more information, visit http://www.mnskillsusa.org or http://www.skillsusa.org/events/nlsc.shtml
Sincerely,
Jennifer Polz, Executive Director
SkillsUSA Minnesota