Friday Flash NM!
SkillsUSA NM Updates 3/18/16
Join the celebration!
Weather it's showcasing your chapter history in the memorabilia room, visiting alumni returning from year's past, networking with learning institutions and industry at the trade show, or representing your chapter at the 50th anniversary state association gala, the 50th committee is excited for you to join the celebration and honor our history. Please see contact information included for further details.
Regional Advisors of the Year Selected...one is a familiar face!
SkillsUSA’s regional advisors of the year have been chosen. Congratulations go to David Nash, Mercer County Technical Schools, New Jersey, Region 1; Robert Jett, Stafford High School, Virginia, Region 2; Jerry McIntosh, Carver Career Center, West Virginia, Region 3; Lynn Nelson, Mounds View High School, Minnesota, Region 4; and, Mary Anderson, Deming High School, New Mexico, Region 5. These great advisors will all come to the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville and compete for the title of national Advisor of the Year.
Congratulations, Mary!
IMPORTANT: Nominate for this year's Advisor of the Year!
50th Commemorative Coin and Gala in products for SLSC
- 50th NM Commemorative Coin will be $8/each through the registration system prior to conference and $10/each during the conference (cash not accepted).
- Friday evening movie tickets will be provided for your SLSC attendees not attending the 50th Gala...we are limited on space for the Gala event. 1 ticket/chapter will be provided with registration so that each school may have a representative. Additional Gala tickets will be $25/each and available through the registration site under products. There is a chapter limit of 5...which may open up after registration closes and we know how are numbers look.
- TECHSPO tables are also available...and our committee is interested in growing that presence on Thursday at the Crowne Plaza and on Friday at CNMCC.
Sponsorship and Techspo Forms
College/Postsecondary & Industry invited!
SkillsUSA, Ryder Offer Grants for Diesel Tech Labs
SkillsUSA and Ryder are seeking diesel technology labs to receive up to a $5,000 grant for improvements. Grant funds can be used to purchase instructional materials, software or equipment and to gain professional development. A total of $20,000 will be presented.
All applications must be received electronically by April 4. To complete the online application, visit: www.skillsusa.org/membership-resources/grants/skillsusa-ryder-diesel-tech-lab-enhancement-grants/.
Introduce the New SkillsUSA Champions Magazine with These Lesson Plans
Spring is a great time to get plugged into the newly digitized SkillsUSA Champions magazine for a new interactive experience! Have students read the Spring issue’s “The Spice of Life” as homework or during class individually, in small groups or aloud as an entire class. Then quickly discuss the article.
Finally, use the discussion questions to help students apply the article to their own SkillsUSA experience. Activities are provided for practice and extended learning. Enjoy the connectivity with the magazine, but most of all, enjoy the integral linkage that SkillsUSA creates to your classroom. Quick link: http://read.nxtbook.com/mercury/skillsusa/champions_spring_2016/index.html#the_spice_of_life.
“The Spice of Life”
Content Discussion Questions:
1. How do you react when you are met with unforeseen challenges and obstacles?
2. How do we build our strength to overcome adversity?
3. What special interests do you have?
4. How will you incorporate your interests into a future career?
In-Class Activity, 12 minutes (varies with size of class)
Personal Skills: Adaptability/flexibility; demonstrates resilience
Materials needed: Prior to class, make a grid on the floor that’s four boxes tall and four boxes wide. Each box should be 1 square foot.
Use a modified version of “A-Maze-ing Decision Making” from SkillsUSA Ignite (Pages 86-87). Give these instructions:
1. As a team, you must get all team members from one end of the maze to the other.
2. There is only one entrance to the maze and one exit.
3. Only one person is allowed on the maze at a time.
4. When a correct box is stepped on, you will hear silence.
5. When an incorrect box is stepped on, you will hear a beep.
6. You must exit the box the same way you entered, box by box.
7. Recording the path on paper is not permitted.
8. You have one minute to discuss strategies.
Hold a paper to make students think you have the maze solution written down. In reality, you do not. Randomly stop students with the beep noise. Students will become frustrated when they cannot find a solution to the puzzle. Allow the activity to continue until you feel students are finished mentally. Facilitate a discussion by asking questions including, “What happened in this activity?”
Share with students that there was no actual solution. Continue by asking:
· How did you react to the adversity of this activity?
· What is the meaning of the term “resilience?”
Point out we will all fail at something. Resilience is about how we respond to that failure. Ask: How do you demonstrate resilience at home? In school? In SkillsUSA? In the workplace?
Extended Learning Opportunity
Workplace Skills: Communication; demonstrates skills in listening and speaking (or demonstrates skills in writing and reading, depending upon final presentation method)
Each student will select a famous person who has demonstrated resilience. Be sure students are not choosing the same people. Have students share about this person through a verbal presentation with a poster, essay, podcast or other methods. For ideas, see: www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-who-failed-at-first-2015-7.
First Rounds for CTE Makeover Challenge
The U.S. Department of Education’s new CTE Makeover Challenge inspires schools to design or renovate makerspaces that strengthen next-generation career and technical skills. The challenge is part of the president’s Nation of Makers initiative, a call to give more students access to new technology that will enable them to design, build and manufacture just about anything.
For 15 years, a tech-influenced DIY community has come to be identified as the maker movement. The combination of ingenious makers and innovative technologies such as personal 3-D printing is driving innovation in manufacturing, engineering, industrial design and hardware, and education has enabled maker culture to take off.
The first-round submission is due on or before April 1. A CTE Makeover Bootcamp, which will take place from early April through late May, will provide participants with training and resources to help them develop their blueprint (second round submission), which is due at the end of May.
The total prize pool includes $200,000 in cash as well as additional in-kind sponsor awards that honorees can use toward their makerspaces. Up to 10 honorees will be announced and prizes awarded in June at the National Maker Faire. An honoree showcase will take place at the World Maker Faire in October.
The CTE Makeover Challenge is part of a series of prize competitions from the U.S. Department of Education that seek to highlight innovation and help prepare students for the high-skill occupations of tomorrow. For current open innovation opportunities from the U.S. Department of Education, visit www.edprizes.com. For additional information about the CTE Makeover Challenge, visit: www.CTEMakeoverChallenge.com. Here is a link to the Federal Register announcement.
SkillsUSA New Mexico Association
SkillsUSA: Connecting YOU to Career Success
Email: Bobbi.Eichhorst@enmu.edu
Website: http://nmctso.com/
Location: 1500 S. Ave K ENMU Station 61 Portales, NM 88130
Phone: (575) 650-5384
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Skills-USA-NM-1901262316765014/