2009.02.05 SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives; working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. It helps each student excel.

SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations. It was formerly known as VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America) established in 1965 and has grown to more than 300,000 student and instructors join SkillsUSA annually, organized into more than 19,333 sections and 54 state and territorial associations. SkillsUSA has served more than 9.6 million members.

SkillsUSA returns to Kansas City June 21-June 26, 2009 for the 45th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students.
More than 15,000 people—including students, teachers and business partners—are expected to participate in the week-long event.

The SkillsUSA Championships will be held on Thursday, June 25 in H. Roe Bartle Hall and Municipal Auditorium. More than 5,000 outstanding career and technical education students—all state contest winners—will compete hands-on in 91 different trade, technical and leadership fields.

Students work against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations like autobody repair and refinishing, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts.

Contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. Car-O-Liner will assist with our Car-O-Mech and BenchRack™ in this year’s competition.

Car-O-Liner has also given scholarships for training at Car-O-Liner Academy to contest winners in both 2007 and 2008.

This investment in education furthers our commitment to providing qualified employees to the workforce. Car-O-Liner is also the Official Sponsor of WorldSkills 2009 in Calgary, Canada, providing all the equipment and support to the Autobody Repair competition in September 2009.