Cumberland County Technical Education Center and Gloucester County Institute of Technology are among the 24 SkillsUSA schools from across the country selected as Models of Excellence for 2022. The annual program recognizes the exceptional integration of personal, workplace and technical skills into SkillsUSA chapter activities. This is the highest honor bestowed on chapters by SkillsUSA, which is among the largest student organizations for career and technical education.
The focus of Models of Excellence is student-led activation. These students learn and practice the skills that every employer seeks, including leadership, initiative, communication, teamwork and problem solving by taking the lead on all SkillsUSA activities. SkillsUSA instructors take the education of these students to the next level by guiding them, but never doing the work for them, elevating learning from classroom instruction to successful application of skills.
The 24 SkillsUSA chapters selected as Models of Excellence will be evaluated for top honors in June at the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference. A panel of judges will interview and evaluate each of these chapters based on their goals, student-led plan of action, results, evaluation and SkillsUSA Framework integration. Business and industry partners will conduct finalist interviews with students and advisors on June 22, a recognition dinner will be held June 23 and the top three schools will be recognized on June 24 during the SkillsUSA Awards Ceremony at State Farm Arena. The top three schools receive national recognition and the opportunity to share their stories through SkillsUSA in publications and trainings.
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 130 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. For more information: skillsusa.org.
