SkillsUSA, Inc.

So you mentioned CareerTech student organizations.

So these students are part of SkillsUSA?

Yes.

Okay.

And so talk a little bit about what they do there and a little bit about Hot Rodders.

Sure.

So we have the SkillsUSA competition, you know, the skills competition.

I participate in that every single year.

Um, I was lucky enough to go to a high school that actually had a dark room, actually had a photography class and I had a photography class and a photography teacher who took me under her wing.

And back then it was Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, also called VICA, which is all things trade, auto mechanic, welding, photography, you name it, all the trades.

And they did a competition every year.

And she's like, why don't you come to this competition? I wasn't even part of the club.

It requires hands-on knowledge and craftsmanship.

Yeah.

And we got grouped, you know, VICA, Vocational Gestural Clubs America.

It's like we got grouped right in with the welders and the auto mechanics and all that, you know, so it was interesting.

I'm working with the students.

Ryan was part of the SkillsUSA, so I work with the curriculum that those students have.

He was actually one of the first two students that went to state college.

Oh, good for you.

For

SkillsUSA.

So that's been huge.

Again, it's investing in the company.

Our students are so well-rounded.

They're involved in FBLA, TSA, SkillsUSA.

They, some of them play sports.

Mm-hmm.

LaShonta?

I had a student who, she was placed, a young lady was placed in the construction class because there were no other classes available.

So her counselor put her in construction, and, um, she got involved in SkillsUSA, and I asked her, I said, "Hey, you're in this construction class.

Do you wanna do a summer program, summer internship in construction?" And she did it and loved it.

Support trade education.

Get involved with SkillsUSA.

Help clean up a neighborhood.

Support youth organizations.

That's when I learned how to cable.

And just so happens, they have a, there's a thing called SkillsUSA, where they have different courses.

categories of competitions.

Um, one of them's cabling, one of them's Cisco, one of them's math, one of them's collision repair, barber, you know, everything community college offers.

So for example, you could be a worker with experience in HVAC maintenance, and you might be able to move into industrial machine maintenance with just a little bit of training.

We're building partnerships with a lot of outside groups, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Goodwill Industries, SkillsUSA, to really help to change perceptions of young people about all of their available options.

Tell us your guys' position on apprenticeship and the efforts that you're putting behind that idea.

Well, apprenticeships can help to address one of the biggest barriers to gaining a new skill, which is having to choose between earning your paycheck and pursuing training.