Photos by SkillsUSA Illinois.
A student competing in the welding trade competition at the SkillsUSA Illinois State Championships at Peoria in late April.
SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit trade organization, is expanding its presence in Illinois thanks to a recent $2 million state budget reauthorization for trades programs. It allows the organization to further bridge the gap between high school education and skilled trade employment.
This increase in state funding for programs like the Illinois Works Program and other workforce development initiatives is allowing the 60-year-old organization to expand its membership from just over 3,500 students last year to over 16,000 students this year across the state.
Executive director of the SkillsUSA Illinois branch, Eric Hill, spoke with Illinois Times in Springfield just after Gov. JB Pritzker signed the budget June 16. The group’s focus is on increasing the availability of trade careers by working closely with schools, employers and unions to create programs that address the specific needs of each community.
“Our organization’s focus is on how to bridge the gap between employers and future trade workers,” says Hill. “Our registered apprenticeship program has allowed us to be that final-mile push for students. It’s local employers helping local students prepare for the job that the employers want to hire them for. Our school systems do such a great job of teaching these technical skills that employers need, but they don’t know how to talk to each other. The step we were missing was: ‘Why the heck don’t we just help the employers hire them?’ ”
Beginning their own construction and trade courses for students as a pilot program in 2022, Lanphier High School offers students from District 186 schools the opportunity to learn trade skills at any point in their high school education.
Hill says SkillsUSA is working with Lanphier to add the Illinois Works pre-apprenticeship program for seniors this fall. This will provide approximately 30 high school students with construction-based training, a $1,500 stipend and the ability to earn bid credit certifications for desirable trade skills.
“These (bid credits) are really valuable to trade unions or just to any construction contractors in the state because they allow these graduates to meet some state hiring requirements and help them get credit on the actual bid they put forward on jobs by hiring students who are graduates of this program.”
Hill said the organization’s work in student trade education gives high school students pathways to higher salary positions after high school over joining the military or incurring debt with college loans.
“We saw this as an opportunity to connect with our schools that are already teaching those skill sets, and add on the Illinois Works programming, then take the students as they graduate and move them right into apprenticeship programs,” said Hill. “So they would have to take some introductory courses that would lead up to this.”
For individuals who already have some trade education and wish to test their skills, the organization also hosts yearly trade competitions, hosted with the help of businesses across the state looking for prospective hires. This past April, SkillsUSA hosted the trades competition, at the Peoria Civic Center, in partnership with 600 different companies. There, over 3,000 college students participated in 130 different trade competitions, from information technology, automotive repair and welding, to health care, STEM and firefighting.
Winners of the state competition have the chance to test their skills on the national stage in the week-long championship trade competition held each June in Atlanta, Georgia. This year, the national championship is being held this week, June 23-27. Hill says 205 Illinois students are representing the state this year.
“It’s not a virtual simulation. It’s very much a hands-on test which is scored, timed and graded,” says Hill. “So, for example, if it’s an automotive competition, you’re changing the oil in a car. If it’s for a heavy equipment operator, you’re digging and moving earth. Even at the national level, it’s all run by employers who are volunteering their time, selfishly wanting to hire these young adults into their companies. So if you’re an Illinois-based employer, you’re going to be looking for the 200-plus students that we have and try to get them to come work right back in your community.”
More information about SkillsUSA and its trade events can be found at https://www.skillsusaillinois.org/.