April 2008
Volume 3 Issue 39

NJ SkillsUSA Alumni Drive
New Jersey SkillsUSA is leading the effort to increase alumni participation within SkillsUSA. We recognize the importance of alumni involvement on the local, state and national levels. We hope that membership in SkillsUSA was a special time for you, and that time doesn't have to end at graduation.

New Jersey SkillsUSA is challenging all local chapters to increase our Alumni membership. All chapters are encouraged to sign-up at least 5 high school seniors who will be graduating from your technical program this spring, as new alumni members from April 1 to April 30, 2008. This free membership will keep students informed about SkillsUSA news and help them to stay connected to SkillsUSA opportunities at the local, state and national levels.

The top 3 local chapters who sign-up the most members between April 1st to April 30th will receive special recognition at the State Championships in May.

Simply have your seniors sign-up online at SkillsUSA Alumni Sign-up.

NJ SkillsUSA State Conference
The New Jersey SkillsUSA State Conference will be held May 2-3 in Somerset County. The New Jersey SkillsUSA Championships showcases the spectacular display of career and technical students of our state in action. Held annually at the Garden State Exhibit Center, more than 2,000 students, vocational educators and industry volunteers participate. Vocational students will compete in 80 different skill and leadership competitions. This two-day event is a showcase for our business and industry partnership programs. As a result, over 130 students will qualify to compete at the national SkillsUSA Championships in June. The philosophy of the Championships is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance and to keep training relevant to employers' needs.

Somerset County Freeholder Jack Ciatterelli will deliver the keynote address at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening. Freeholder Ciatterelli has been a strong supporter of career and technical education. He serves as the liaison for the Freeholder Board and Somerset County's Vocational & Technical Schools.

State Officer Elections
Students interested in running for the NJ SkillsUSA State Officer Team can now download the necessary forms from the state website. Students are invited to attend the State Officer meeting on April 16th, at Somerset County Technical Schools. Advisors should contact JoAnn Vincenz in advanced of attendance.

State Contest Updates
Contest cluster coordinators have published several updates for the upcoming NJ SkillsUSA Championships. Students and advisors are strongly encouraged to check the NJ SkillsUSA website regularly for updates.

Bergen County Academies Chocolate Competition
On Thursday, March 20th, SkillsUSA students at the Bergen County Academies held their annual Chocolate Competition. The confectionary culmination of months of preparation and diligence celebrated the talents and creative voices of the upperclassmen pastry students in the Academy for Culinary Arts and Hotel Administration. The thirty three contestants vied for the coveted grand prize as well as the opportunity to represent the school at the regional level in Philadelphia.

A panel of industry professionals, food writers, and county officials enthusiastically served as judges for the event. SkillsUSA senior Marlena Gittleman's tribute to painter Henri Matisse garnered her grand prize. Her cake was blanketed in chocolate pomegranate ganache and permeated with pomegranate mousse and she utilized Matisse's technique of bold colors and shapes. SkillsUSA State President Maria Hera, who captured second place, brought the dynamic feel of a Ventian Carnavale to life with vibrant red's and gold's and beautifully embellished hats and masks.

Chef John Branda, culinary instructor at BCA and local chapter advisor, reflected on the success of his students, "I'm always impressed by our student's talents and efforts and the dedication that they put into their projects is inspiring." Chef Mary Beth Brace was also proud of the student's successes. "Year after year they keep exceeding all expectations, and their dedication and hard work during this past month was clearly on display at today's competition."

SkillsUSA State President Maria Hera celebrating her 2nd place achievement!

SkillsUSA State Officer Isabel Parilis displaying her competition entry.

Sussex County SkillsUSA Dinner
On Thursday March 20th, the Sussex County SkillsUSA Chapter held their annual SkillsUSA Champions Dinner. More then 200 people attended this year's dinner, which was prepared by the chapter's culinary students. Chapter Officer Courtney Bischoff delivered her state delegate speech to the audience and the chapter's Opening and Closing Ceremonies team performed. In addition, chapter officers put together a power point presentation explaining everything that has occured with SkillsUSA in the past year for the attendees. SkillsUSA State Officer Katerina Melekos said, "This year's dinner was a great success. Everyone had a lot of fun and it was a great night!"

SkillsUSA Advisors from Sussex County.

Sussex County's Local Chapter President addressing the audience.

SkillsUSA National Week of Service
We would like to invite all our chapters to plan a community service project during the week of May 4-10, 2008. This will help commemorate the founding of SkillsUSA as well as harness the power of our combined efforts to showcase the good work being done by our student members and bring attention to Career and Technical Education, and the value of SkillsUSA. With more time to for chapters to plan their community service efforts, we hope to increase the number of chapters participating and therefore gain more local and national media attention for our efforts.

The first 50 advisors who submit a National Week of Service project report to the national office by May 15, 2008 will receive a SkillsUSA logo gift item valued at $15 or more. Photos are also appreciated. Send your reports and photographs to Karen Perrino at kperrino@skillsusa.org.

To assist you with planning and carrying out this event, we have created a downloadable Community Service Guide and Community Service Checklist and provide you with customizable media releases, PSAs and Thank You Letters to help generate publicity for your service event.

Visit the SkillsUSA National Week of Service website for details.