CTE students participate in regional SkillsUSA leadership conference

Next, the Center for Career Services will host SkillsUSA's Area IV competition

Thirteen students from Southern Westchester BOCES districts attended the first SkillsUSA Area IV Leadership Conference at SUNY Ulster on Dec. 10, 2024. The students participated in leadership exercises and learned more about how they could improve the SkillsUSA chapters at their own schools.

 

The schools that sent students to participate in the conference were: Ardsley, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Pelham, Rye, Westlake, and White Plains.

 

Jaclyn De Lao, the Principal of the Center for Career Services, is a board member for SkillsUSA.

 

"Hosting the first Area IV Leadership Conference was such a delight," De Lao said. "It gave students from SWBOCES and all around the Hudson Valley area the opportunity to meet and grow their leadership capacity."

 

Area IV consists of 12 high schools and BOCES that cover Duchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.

 

"The students were so excited to meet new peers who share the same interests and values when it comes to their career and technical education experience," De Lao said. "The positivity in the room was infectious. Students walked away with not only new friends but great ideas on how to make their SkillsUSA chapter even more successful. I am looking forward to seeing all the great work students here at the Center for Career Services will apply at their next meeting."

 

SkillsUSA is the No. 1 workforce development organization for students, with more than 400,000 members nationwide. It empowers them to become skilled professionals, career-reader leaders and responsible members of their communities.

 

SkillsUSA also hosts local, regional, state and national competitions that allow student to test their skills. Southern Westchester BOCES’ Center for Career Services campus in Valhalla will host SkillsUSA’s Area IV competition on Feb. 1, 2025.