BVT students celebrate SkillsUSA week
Students and faculty at Blackstone Valley Tech will join others across the nation to celebrate SkillsUSA Week, Feb. 2-8, 2020. The annual celebration represents over 365,000 SkillsUSA members nationwide and promotes career and technical education (CTE). The week highlights the benefits of the SkillsUSA program in developing personal, workplace, and technical skills grounded in academics. It also provides schools with an opportunity to demonstrate how CTE helps prepare local students for college and high-wage, high-demand career fields.
“Our SkillsUSA students continuously impress me with the work they perform on a daily basis, and they continue to be exceptional advocates of Career and Technical education,” said SkillsUSA Advisor, Robert Jordan. “These students use the multitude of skills they have learned to illustrate how CTE programs truly prepare them for success in the workplace and as future leaders. Our students also demonstrate an understanding of the importance of giving back and serving the community through their frequent volunteerism and leadership at service events.”
Raising awareness about SkillsUSA is important to the BVT SkillsUSA Chapter Officers. They will share on Advocacy Day, February 4th, through social media channels, their personal stories showcasing how a Career and Technical Education (CTE) has positively impacted their high school careers.
Included among the special activities planned that week, thanking their teachers for their leadership and help in becoming career-ready, and chapter members for their hard work and self-motivation throughout that week and year. They will give back to their community through service orientation, partnering with the Student Council, the BVT SkillsUSA Chapter will distribute letters of hope and teddy bears to patients at Milford Hospital. The SkillsUSA officers will serve the Be Like Brit organization, which is the SkillsUSA Massachusetts official charity, by delivering the collected items from their two-week drive to their collections warehouse that week as well.
“I am very proud of our SkillsUSA Chapter members and the work that they do. Serving as role models and effective spokespeople for the mission of quality vocational-technical education,” said BVT Superintendent-Director Dr. Michael F. Fitzpatrick. “Honing their leadership skills and strong work ethic will continue to serve our community and SkillsUSA well in the coming years.”
SkillsUSA Week activities nationwide include presentations to administrators, business leaders and legislators; school open houses; community service events to benefit local charities and organizations; interviews with the news media; student-led events and campus outreach, and industry partnership development. SkillsUSA Week is held the second full week of February each year in conjunction with Career and Technical Education Month.
Additional information about SkillsUSA is available at https://www.valleytech.k12.ma.us/skillsusa.
