SkillsUSA is a club for tech students to join, where they have an opportunity to compete in order to show off the work that they have been doing in their vocation. The competition areas include technology and computers, customer service, culinary arts, carpentry, machine shop, and nursing, but students can also compete in non-technical areas such as community service. There are numerous opportunities for students to explore and engage in.

The school pays for the expenses that come with competing, but in order to make it to nationals, students first have to compete in districts and states. The district competition is a computerized test that is 70% shop skills, 20% employability, and 10% OSHA. The state competition is more performance-based. For example, students choosing to compete in carpentry would build a structure, culinary students would prepare food, manufacturing students would write code to create a component, business students would work with a customer, and allied health students would perform CPR. Nationals is a combination of both. In the past, there have been students at Tantasqua who have qualified for nationals. For example, back in 2021, a carpentry student managed to win gold at nationals!

But SkillsUSA isn’t just about competing, it has volunteer opportunities, as well. Right now, SkillsUSA isn’t certain about future volunteer opportunities, but in the past, there has been outreach into senior centers, clothing drives, and food drives. This past month, SkillsUSA made Christmas cards for veterans.

Mrs. Carrier is one of the teachers who runs SkillsUSA at Tantasqua. She says her favorite thing about the program is working with students. She is proud of all the students who have won medals in the past, and all of the students who have done their best each year.

While the school foots the bill for those competing, Mrs. Carrier lends a hand at fundraising in order to raise the funds for these costs. The craft fair was a recent fundraising event that raised $12,000. Future fundraising events are a concession stand at the 54th USA Archery Indoor Nationals in February.

For anyone with questions or who might be interested in SkillsUSA, please contact Mrs. Carrier or Mr. Wood.