Community Service Report SkillsUSA Massachusetts is continuously engaging in acts of community service. Our membership has, as a team, participated in numerous projects that have benefited our local community. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge this year’s Community Service Initiatives. SkillsUSA Massachusetts held a canned food drive during our Fall State Leadership Conference on November 20th - 21st 2023. We collected an impressive number of canned goods and delivered them to Advantage Truck Group for their “Haulin’ for Hunger” program. At the Fall State Leadership Conference, in partnership with the Hopkinton YMCA, Lowes, the Massachusetts Army National Guard, Minuteman Technical Institute, as well as many members, advisors, leadership team members, and state officers all participated in a live community service project. 10 teams worked to build bookcases! 6 of these bookcases were donated to the Hopkinton YMCA. The remaining 4 were raffled off to schools across the commonwealth with Early Childhood and Education programs. During the holiday season, members of the State Executive Council, Alumni, and students from Lynn Vocational Technical Institute hosted a holiday party for underserved children in the community. The children and their families enjoyed holiday crafts, games, and cookie decorating, and they received a special visit from Santa! Each child left the event with a new sweatshirt, new socks, and several games and toys. The event was an amazing way to spread holiday cheer! We have thoroughly enjoyed participating in community service events with you this year. Thank you for the impact you have had on our commonwealth and in your local communities. National Officer Report After the National Leadership and Skills Conference in June of 2023, the newly elected National Officer team attended National Officer training held in Whitesburg, Georgia at the Historic Banning Mills. During this training, we focused on ourselves and how we, as individuals, contribute to the team. Throughout the training, we participated in personal development activities and bonded as a team. In July, we attended a training in Washington D.C. which focused on the “We”, and how we can contribute and make a difference in SkillsUSA as a team. During that trip, we participated in workshops developing our image both individually and as a team. We spoke on being authentic and serving our membership. We toured the capital and visited the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Illusion Museum, and the Holy Cathedral. To end our week, we recorded content for the SkillsUSA Social Media platforms and ended our trip at TopGolf with National Staff Members. We resumed our training in August for facilitator training. At this training, we became familiar with and were trained on facilitation of the curriculum for WLTI and being coached through our facilitation styles. This trip lasted a short time of 3 days in Kansas City, Missouri. The National Officer team started the year off strong with facilitating and presiding over the Washington Leadership and Training Institute in DC. We conducted 6 workshops revolving the POWERR formula, assisting the members in perfecting their Framework stories. We toured the nation’s capital and had a celebration at the end of the week. In late October, as a Region 1 Officer, I attended the Region 1 Conference in Maine for officers from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. We showed them tips and tricks on facilitation Fall State conferences. In February was SkillsUSA Week and traveled to Ashburn, Virginia to the Temporary National Office. We visited the Academies of Loudoun, assisted in handing out their local awards, and toured the school. The National Post-Secondary Vice President, Emily Pinto, and I flew to Tennessee for a check presentation from Tractor Supply and Carhartt, a tour of the Nissan Smyrna Plant and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology. Through the months since the election, we have had virtual team meetings, and committee meetings regarding diversity, state officer engagement, and post-secondary engagement.
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