Students Earn Awards, Career Path Preparation At SkillsUSA Championships

Students from across Illinois have earned awards, tested each other’s abilities and set themselves up for career success at the SkillsUSA Illinois Championships.

Over three days in late April, students from every part of Illinois came to the Peoria Civic Center for the ultimate workforce development challenges, 150 competitions, judged by expert employers who are looking not only to crown champions but find the young people who will become their next skilled workers.

Students compete in a wide variety of fields that don’t necessarily require a four-year college degree but need skilled training and competency beyond high school: manufacturing, human services and health care, hospitality, cosmetics, trade labor, electronics and much more.

Competitors raced the clock to see who could fix diesel engines, fly drones, sort out complicated computer code, and even put together photos and videos from the competition, all to show the SkillsUSA program has helped them develop the physical and mental skills and approach to be successful in their chosen career path.

The winners in each competition now advance to compete in the national SkillsUSA Championships this June in Atlanta, Georgia. More information is available at: https://www.skillsusaillinois.org/the-championships.

The state Championships come at the end of the school year, but also as SkillsUSA advocates to give more students across Illinois the opportunity of an accelerated roadmap for the career of their choosing. The organization held its first Lobby Day at the Illinois Capitol earlier this spring, bringing several dozen students to meet with legislators and advocate for expanded career and technical education (CTE) funding and options.

Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed adding $10 million to CTE funding in next year’s state budget. SkillsUSA will be advocating for that increase and other flexibility for programs like theirs as the legislative session wraps in May. State Sen. Dave Koehler and state Rep. Travis Weaver, both of the Peoria area, attended the competitions.

“We’re grateful for our sponsors Caterpillar and the City of Peoria, and to the thousands of students, families, industry partners and volunteers who share our vision to connect our future generation to the careers that will support our economic growth and our communities,” said SkillsUSA Executive Director Eric Hill. ““We hope our local legislators who attended can work with us to build on our momentum with more support for CTE programming, and that our students will run full speed ahead in their career paths with the support and confidence from the SkillsUSA experience.”

A list of local SkillsUSA Illinois Championships event winners and participating schools is included below:

Central Illinois

Bunker Hill High School, Bunker Hill, Ill.;

Pekin Community High School, Pekin, Ill.;

Livingston Area Career Center, Pontiac, Ill.;

Capital Area Career Center, Springfield, Ill.;

Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, Ill.

Metro East

Belleville West High School, Belleville, Ill.;

Southwestern Illinois College, Belleville, Ill.;

The Center for Academic and Vocational Excellence, Belleville, Ill.;

Roxana Sr High School, Roxana, Ill.