BY ALEXUS HUNTER | JUL 9, 2024
(Clarksdale, Mississippi) — The National Leadership & Skills Conference was held in Atlanta, Georgia on June 24-June 28, 2024. The National Leadership & Skills Conference is the ultimate recognition of excellence in career and technical education. This event brings together thousands of students, instructors, business partners, and administrators to celebrate the accomplishments of those preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. It’s an incredible opportunity for students to showcase their talents and skills on the national level.
The National Leadership & Skills Conference consisted of 15,000 plus attendees, 6,500 plus competitors and 115 competitions. The competitions were held in the Georgia World Congress Center. The Georgia World Congress Center covers over 1.79 million square feet of floor space, the equivalent of 31 football fields. The competitions are created, overseen and judged by nearly 2,000 industry volunteers, each committed to building the next generation of skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members our future depends on.
Students from the Carpentry and Collision Repair programs took part in a presentation, orientation test and overview of the competitionon Tuesday, June 25th, before the actual competition began on Wednesday, June 26 and Thursday, 27, 2024. All competitors at nationals are required to wear specific SkillsUSA attire when competing in their field of competition, according to the National Technical Standards Guidelines.
The carpentry students competed in TeamWorks. This was a two-day event competition. There were twelve community colleges competing in the TeamWorks category. The students who competed in TeamWorks were Derrick Bass, from Tunica, MS; Mouhamed AW from Tunica, MS; Joseph Eskridge from Lyon, MS and Demarion Morrison from Tutwiler, MS. Our Collision and Repair student, Jatavian Williams from Clarksdale, MS competed in the Automotive Refinishing category. There were eight community colleges competing in the Automotive Refinishing category. Each of these students were timed in their area of competitions.
Each of the students learned that it is not all about winning, but actually getting to display your talent among many students across the United States. There were vendors, parents, instructors and business and industry there to see this big event that is displayed each year among thousands of students. The National Leadership and Skills Conference is held each year in Atlanta, Georgia in the last month of June.
For more information on SkillsUSA, please contact Sheila Sanders at (662) 621-4192 or visit www.skillsusa.org.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Alexus Hunter
Chief Communications Officer
(662) 621-4061
