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 2-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 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.

SkillsUSA & OSHA Bring Partnership to Rockefeller Center
On April 21, 2008, OSHA launched the fourth year of its youth public awareness campaign at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, where the agency and teens from SkillsUSA demonstrated safe work practices for some of the most common tasks that teens are likely to encounter in summer jobs. The campaign is part of OSHA's 2008 Teen Summer Job Safety Campaign, a program which provides information and resources to teenagers, parents, educators, and employers to ensure safe and rewarding work experiences for these summer employees.

Students and advisors from New Jersey SkillsUSA took part in this event, demonstrating safe working practices. The following are a few pictures from the event.

Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, with NJ SkillsUSA Advisor and Landscaping Instructor Greg Zotti from Somerset County Vo-Tech.

SkillsUSA Executive Director Tim Lawrence speaking in front of four SkillsUSA landscaping students from Somerset County Vo-Tech.

NJ Union Carpenter Apprentice Skills Competition
On June 14, 2008, in Atlantic City, NJ, the Union Carpenter Apprentice Skills competition will be held at the Atlantic City Convention Center. 50 Carpenter Apprentices will compete in a day-long series of hands-on projects that include building mock-ups focused on wood and metal framing, drywall and interior systems, flooring-wood, carpet and vinyl, concrete form work and cabinetry. In addition to the live competition, the Convention Hall will have 27 sponsor exhibitors.

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.