WY SkillsUSA Wednesday Update

If you are not a member of SkillsUSA Wyoming by February 1, you may not compete at our State Leadership and Skills Conference in April or the National Leadership and Skills Conference in June.

You are to use PERSONAL email addresses for students - not school district email addresses. SLSC technical testing and Professional Development Exams will be administered ONLINE and school district emails cause unnecessary problems.

TIP: I strongly suggest registering every student you have—any unforeseen substitutions for state conference or nationals, must be a member.

Necessary registration information can be found by clicking this year's theme "IGNITE YOUR POTENTIAL", above.

FOR MEMBERSHIP DUES/INVOICES the mailing address for the NATIONAL office has changed. It is most definitely reflected on your invoice, but please bring it to your accounts payable person's attention.

MEMBERSHIP DUES ONLY: SkillsUSA Inc.

673 Potomac Station Dr.

PMB #809

Leesburg, VA 20176

Please check your emails for this important Wednesday Update.

These contests will be held:

April 4 and 5, 2025

We are proud to be returning to Gillette College Technical Education Center in 2025.

Post-Secondary Automated Manufacturing Technology challenge will be on Friday, April 4th and Diesel Technology contest will be Saturday, April 5th.

Note: If we have have too many contestants for Automated Manufacturing than we have machines, both Friday and Saturday will be utilized. More details to come.

Post-Secondary Mechatronics (moved from Casper College to Gillette College in 2025) and Post-Secondary Industrial Motor Control (new for 2025) will be held at Gillette College either the 4th or 5th of April. Please look for updates in coming newsletters.

The welding technical committee has released three documents (BELOW) for your use for the 2025 Wyoming State Leadership and Skills Conference for Welding Fabrication. Included is the Blueprint Letter outlining the requirements and standards of the submitted blueprint. There are two interactive PDFs for the WPS and WPQR. If you have any questions regarding the blueprint component of the fab contest please reach out to one of the members below of the technical committee:

Lyle Harmon - Lharmon@wstch.com

Todd Warner - Todd_Warner@lincolnelectric.com

Blake Parks - Blake.Parks@airgas.com

Liz Pollo - wyskillsusaweld@gmail.com

Please see the attachments below.

Students can only compete in NOVICE WELDING for one year. 2025 registrants will be cross-checked with those registered in 2024. To review your limits for welding competitions, as well as all 57 contests offered in Wyoming, see below.

Refer to these updates (link to details, below) often and recall that these are NATIONAL updates. Wyoming uses the 2024-2026 National Technical Standards and the Contest Updates to develop competitions that come as close to a national experience as possible. However, we must account for time and space constraints; modifications are expected.

MOBILE ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY - updates were posted 1/7/2025

COMMERCIAL sUAS DRONE - updates were posted 12/18/2024

CHAPTER DISPLAY - updates were posted 12/16/2024

ROBOTICS URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE - updates were posted 12/12/2024

WELDING - updates were posted 11/13/2024

QUIZ BOWL - updates were posted 10/30/2024

• Wyoming T-shirt notes: your notebook at presentation will suffice. Points will NOT be deducted for NOT producing a physical t-shirt at SLSC. The Gold medalist will be required to produce the t-shirt if they choose to continue on to compete at the national level.
• Job Interview notes (January 24th CORRECTION) : The National Technical Standards have been updated with regard to the definition of a "portfolio" for competition purposes. A portfolio is NOW required for Wyoming competitors in Job Interview.

In our attempt to comply as closely as possible with the National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), expect all forms necessary to participate at the Wyoming Leadership and Skills State Conference (SLSC):

RESUMES

LIABILITY FORMS (NEW format for 2025 - expect release after February 1)

PROOF of COURSEWORK (safety certifications and/or coursework verification as dictated by certain technical standards)

to be submitted electronically (online) and due by April 1 (after the close of registration and prior to online testing and in-person competitions). Students and advisors who do not complete this important piece, will not be allowed to compete in Gillette or Casper.

Watch for important information on these required tests, and set dates and times in future newsletters!

·Each student may:

• Compete in ONE Leadership Contest,
• Compete in ONE skilled/occupational competition,
• Compete in ONE TEAM EVENT (Quiz Bowl, Health Knowledge Bowl, any skilled/occupational OR leadership event requiring more than one person).
• The exceptions is: Medical Terminology, only.

Note: Competitions held in Gillette, at Gillette College are NO LONGER exceptions.

The best way to calculate the formula is to consider a student's top contest choices and THEN plug it into the rule and the schedule.

If a student wants to compete in Health Knowledge Bowl, Med Terminology, Medical Math, and Quiz Bowl, they can! Med Term, is an exception listed above, HKB - can serve to check one of two boxes - their team competition or their Technical Competition. Med Term would check the Technical Competition box, and Quiz Bowl would check the leadership competition box. Again - what do they want to do, and then work the formula backwards to see if it works!

What must always be considered? Scheduling! MOST leadership contests are on Day One. Technical on Day Two. A student can not choose Individual welding (technical contest) and Welding Fabrication (team choice) because they happen on the same day. This type of scenario is indeed an exception to the rule we have in place, but in the case of most students, it does not create an issue as most are only enrolled in one career pathway and therefore only compete in one technical competition.

BASIC HEALTHCARE SKILLS - High School

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION WIRING - High School

INDUSTRIAL MOTOR CONTROL - Post-Secondary

See the link above entitled "Contests and Limits" for a full list of contest offerings in Wyoming.

Refer to the 2024-2026 technical standards, available to professional members for full descriptions and preparation information.

Facility Management ties into many SkillsUSA Career Clusters taught, including construction, architecture, engineering, and more. The Facilithon lets students experience this career in action, where they’ll solve real-world problems and learn how to manage large buildings and campuses.

The Facilithon is an Occupational Competition that lets students "Think like a Facility Manager."

This unique contest requires no prior curriculum, offering students an opportunity to explore an exciting, high-paying career in facility management.

The Facilithon gives students hands-on problem-solving experience with three exciting components:

1) A 50-question common-sense quiz

2) A role-play scenario about managing a property

3) The FM Challenge, featuring an Emergency Scenario students love!

Click on the title above to access the State Officer Application for the 2025-2026 school year. For the past three years our officer teams with the support of their districts or colleges have attended the Washington DC Leadership Training Institute, the Mid-America Conference in Nebraska, mentored Wyoming chapters and greatly assisted in State Conference planning and producing. The experience is life changing.

The Chapter Excellence Program (CEP) is the single best way to build a successful SkillsUSA chapter. The CEP recognizes achievement as it relates to the integration of the SkillsUSA Framework in chapter Program of Work (PoW) activities.

SkillslUSA Wyoming requires CEP participation of all chapters. Level 1 Quality Chapter status is required of all chapters interested in competing at the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference in April.

Topic: 2025-2026 State Officer Application, Chapter Excellence Program, State Leadership and Skills Conference Q and A with the State Director

Time: Tuesday, January 28th, 2025 04:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82043590395?pwd=DrRGywYE0o0S5JnwEXLkwq6qtmF0SZ.1
Meeting ID: 820 4359 0395
Passcode: 766138

The Wyoming Association of SkillsUSA wants to hear from you! We would sinerely appreciate your time in taking the following survey so that we can better serve you. Please reply by February 1st.

It’s time to get energized for SkillsUSA Week, Feb. 2-8! We hope you will encourage local chapters and your state officers to make the most of the week and get involved with all it has to offer. This is the time for members to grow their skills and demonstrate that SkillsUSA is an important factor in their personal and professional development!

SkillsUSA Week grants are being offered to state officer teams that are looking to find ways to support chapters in their state. Work with your state officer team to submit a proposal outlining how you intend to support and interact with chapters in your state during the week. Five state teams will be chosen to receive the grant. Apply on the SkillsUSA Week webpage before the end of January for your chance to win!

The SkillsUSA Week program guide has everything chapters need to build a successful plan. The guide includes a sample schedule, artwork, a SkillsUSA Week proclamation, a draft press release and more.

As the Spring term rolls in, so do the Spring training offerings for SkillsUSA advisors! From comprehensive sessions for the new advisors to workshops about the Chapter Excellence Program, competitions and scholarships, we got you covered.

Take a look at our training calendar at: www.skillsusa.org/events/professional-development/ and register at: https://skillsusa.wufoo.com/forms/szi2vfr1294gcc/ to receive a calendar invite with a Zoom invite.

Each participant earns a professional development certificate of attendance!