Brandy Norman placed 8th in SkillsUSA National Cosmetology Contest!

Brandy Norman went to Kansas City, Missouri, on June 20-25, 2011 as a competitor at the 47th National Leadership and Skills Conference sponsored by SkillsUSA. She placed 8th in the nation and received a SkillConnect Point Certificate that certifies meeting industry standards in her career field. We are very proud of her accomplishments! Her instructor, Kim Atkinson, also attended and received the Silver Presidential Volunteer Service Award for her community service hours.

Additionally, SkillsUSA Tennessee Postsecondary had a total of 169 individuals who attended. This is our largest number ever with 65 contestants competing in 48 contests. All of Tennessee Postsecondary SkillsUSA members as well as Tennessee can know now what an incredible job that your representatives did in Kansas City. Tennessee earned 10 Gold Medals, 12 Silver Medals and 3 Bronze Medals for a total of 25 medals in 13 contests. This is our largest national medal count ever.  Additionally, 38 students Received Skill connect certificates and 52 of 65 contestants, in 37 of our 48 contests, received top ten finishes. We are proud of all competitors for jobs well done! We are especially proud of Jillian Ricks, the Gold Medalist in Job Skill Demonstration Open, who is legally blind. Jeremy Ballentine made us extremely proud as our third consecutive National Officer. We also want to recognize and send out a special thank you to all of the voting delegates who did an excellent job campaigning for Jeremy Ballentine! SkillsUSA Tennessee Postsecondary continues to excel on the national level.

SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students in public high schools, career and technical centers and schools and two-year colleges. SkillsUSA has more than 300,000 student members annually, organized into more than 3600 schools and 54 state and territorial associations (including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands). 

Since 1965, SkillsUSA has served more than 10.4 million members. Currently, more than 16,389 teachers and school administrators serve as professional SkillsUSA members and instructors. More than 1,100 business, industry and labor sponsors actively support SkillsUSA at the national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions, and involvement of their people in SkillsUSA activities. Many more work directly with state associations and local chapters. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives; working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.  It helps each student to excel. 

SkillsUSA is an applied method for preparing America’s high performance workers in public career and technical programs. It provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. The Association emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, life-long education, and pride in the dignity of work. SkillsUSA also promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activities.