News & Events

Two Mitchell Technical Institute students fared well at the recent SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held recently in Louisville, Kentucky.  South Dakota was represented by 67 students from four high schools and three technical institutes.
 
Paul Intare, Mitchell, and Andrew Nelson, Lake Preston, placed fifth as a team, in Mechatronics.  Both students are 2017 graduates of the MTI Automation Controls/SCADA program.  In total, South Dakota had 10 students place in the top 10 in their contests areas.
 
The National SkillsUSA Championships, at which more than 6,000 students compete in 100 occupational and leadership skill areas, is held in conjunction with the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, attended by more than 16,000 people.  The competitions took place at the Kentucky Exposition Center June 19-23. Students earned the right to compete when they won first place at the South Dakota Leadership and Skills Conference Championships earlier this year.
 
During their stay, students participated as competitors or as voting delegates where they elected their national officers for the year and conducted the business of the organization. Students also met with business and industry representatives and heard from government officials. There was also time for some fun activities, too.
 
SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves technical, skilled and service occupation instructional programs in public high schools, career and technical centers and schools and two- and four-year colleges. SkillsUSA annually serves more than 320,000 student members annually, organized into more than 3,900 schools and 52 state and territorial associations (including the Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).
 
SkillsUSA helps students discover and grow their career passions. As a nationwide partnership of students, instructors and industry working together, SkillsUSA works to ensure America has a skilled workforce. It helps every student excel. Career and technical education is learning that works for America. SkillsUSA has the active support of more than 600 corporations, trade associations, business and labor unions at the national level. More than 11.9 million people have been annual members of SkillsUSA since its founding as the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America in 1965. SkillsUSA programs teach leadership, citizenship and character development to complement technical skill training. The organization emphasizes respect for the dignity of work, ethics, workmanship, scholarship and safety.
 
SkillsUSA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and is cited as a successful model of employer-driven youth development training program by the U.S. Department of Labor. For more information, go to: www.skillsusa.org.