SkillsUSA held its 59th annual National Leadership & Skills Conference and TECHSPO Expo June 19-23, 2023, in Atlanta, Ga.

An estimated 15,000 students, teachers, education leaders and representatives from 650 national corporations, trade associations, businesses and labor unions participated. The conference is designed to provide students with career and technical education.

The annual SkillsUSA Championships portion of the event consisted of 110 hands-on skill and leadership competitions.

The conference provides students, their families and industry professionals to meet and discuss career opportunities.

"The interesting part of this event is that the students competing have brought their families here, so we're getting engagement from the younger individuals that have operated this equipment or simulators, as well as their family members, too," said Mark Wallace of Gregory Poole Equipment, based in Raleigh, N.C. "Not only are the students doing their tests, learning and competing, the parents are seeing the passion of their kids for particular skills in our industry."

Chris Dysart of BuildingPoints Southeast, based in Charlotte, N.C., was at the Trimble exhibit working non-stop with SkillsUSA competitors and their families providing information on Trimble construction management technology. Dysart has a passion for this competition because he was a SkillsUSA competitor for all four years of his high school career and even served as Georgia State Vice President of SkillsUSA.

"In high school, I competed in architectural design and drafting," he said. "Ever since, I've been wanting and have succeeded in getting Trimble involved in this. The competition and the show have been excellent. It's always fun coming back to this every year to see the growth. It's a great organization that needs to be publicized more. These students are the people we need. These are the hard workers we need for our company. Other companies come here that never knew this existed and they find talented workers."

SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA helps each student excel by providing educational programs, events and competitions that support career and technical education in the nation's classrooms.

For more information, visit www.skillsusa.org. CEG

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