TCAT Student Excels at SkillsUSA
NASHVILLE (July 2, 2021) — Career and technical education students from Tennessee demonstrated excellence and brought home medals and honors at the 2021 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference last week.
Among the winners is Samantha Autry, a Residential Commercial and Appliance Technology student at TCAT McKenzie.
The annual SkillsUSA conference and its national championship competitions showcased the nation’s best career and technical education (CTE) students, who competed in 106 different trade, technical and leadership events. The 2021 SkillsUSA Championships were held virtually due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.
SkillsUSA Tennessee Postsecondary sent 52 students, representing 18 community and technical colleges, to participate at the national workforce event. A total of 23 Tennessee postsecondary students – individually and as members of small teams – won gold, silver or bronze medals. Many also received prizes such as tools of their trade and scholarships to further their careers and education.
During the national event, students worked against the clock, proving their expertise in occupations such as electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and welding. All contests are run by SkillsUSA with the help of industry, trade associations and labor organizations, testing competencies set by industry. In addition, leadership contestants demonstrated their skills, including extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings using parliamentary procedure. Middle and high school students who are members of SkillsUSA compete at the event separately from college-level students. Just over 3,700 students at all levels competed in this year’s event.
SkillsUSA improves the quality of the nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of SkillsUSA Framework skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. The organization’s vision is to produce the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success.
