In June, for the second year in a row, I attended the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta. I served as a judge for the Marine Service Technology National Championship as part of the American Boat & Yacht Council’s ongoing support for the event.
If you’re not familiar with SkillsUSA, I am not terribly surprised. As someone who’s been in the marine industry for close to 25 years, recruiting and hiring technicians, I became aware of it only last year, when I was asked to participate as a judge for the competition.
SkillsUSA is a nationwide, nonprofit educational association that serves middle, high-school and postsecondary students who are preparing for skilled-trade and service-oriented careers. The nonprofit’s main goal is ensuring a flow of skilled workers into America’s workforce. Its portfolio includes carpentry, heavy-equipment operation, cybersecurity, cooking, automotive and truck repair, welding and, yes, marine trades. SkillsUSA works with schools from every state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with more than 18,000 career technical education instructors to excite interest in hands-on trades. SkillsUSA has had more than 14 million cumulative members since 1965, with more than 390,000 members currently.
The competitions held at the annual event where I served as a judge mark the culmination of a year’s worth of local and state competitions. Champions at each level move on to the next level until they qualify to participate in the SkillsUSA Nationals. From the beginning at the June event, the atmosphere was celebratory. In front of about 15,000 total attendees, more than 6,500 students competed in 110 events over four days.
To say that Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center is cavernous is an understatement, and SkillsUSA all but fills the floor space in the 3.9 million-square-foot facility. The competitions are held in cordoned-off areas grouped by career type, including human services, STEM, hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, public safety, health sciences, information technology, arts and visual communication, architecture and construction, and transportation — where the marine service technology arena is located.
The contests are designed, run and adjudicated by volunteers from associated industries, trades associations and labor organizations. And running down the center of each exhibit hall between the competition areas are industry-related displays and booths. This layout allows for an almost constant flow of participants and attendees who can learn about opportunities and emerging technologies. More than 200 exhibitors offered information and interactive experiences. ABYC’s education director, David Broadbent, and I staffed our booth and came away with more than a dozen new school contacts interested in ABYC’s school-accreditation program.
Marine service technology is not as well-represented at SkillsUSA as it should be. Granted, our industry is much smaller than automotive or construction, and many of the others participating at the conference, but we can certainly do more. For some time now, Yamaha has been practically the only representation from the marine industry. They’ve been doing a fantastic job, but we need more help from others in the marine field. ABYC got much more involved last year, and as an impartial entity in the marine industry, we are putting out the call to every marine business to supply materials, equipment or resources to the marine service technology aspect of SkillsUSA.
This year, 24 students competed in the marine service technology event, which consisted of a written test and hands-on lab challenges. Yamaha created 12 different lab stations, associated mainly with aspects of inboard, outboard and personal watercraft engine troubleshooting. There was also an interview component judged by a Yamaha representative. What the students didn’t know was that this round was also a real interview for employment.
ABYC also created a station where competitors were asked to properly wire a display board outfitted with a bilge pump, float switch, manual switch and battery power, per all pertinent ABYC standards. Participants were judged on whether the pump worked from both switches, the use of proper wire size and wire color, and properly sized overcurrent protection. This is where other industry partners are needed most — in supplying equipment and creating new and different challenges to be included in the competition.
The culmination was an awards ceremony held in State Farm Arena to honor the top three finishers in each of the 110 competitions. Each took their spot on the podium, and all were awarded medals.
All of us in the marine industry know that workforce development and attracting younger workers has been at the forefront of the issues we’ve faced for many years. As a longtime member of the industry, and as a board member and current president of the Marine Trades Association of Maryland, I’ve been personally involved with that focus for at least the past 15 years. If your company isn’t engaged on this issue, or is looking for new ways to bring more workers into the industry, now is the time to act.
SkillsUSA is a great way to get involved, including at the local and state levels. Judge a competition. Design a skills lab. Support a student. If you’re a manufacturer, get some product and representation in a booth on the competition floor. Do what you can to help get students excited about the possibility of a career in the marine trades to ensure the future success of the industry for everyone.
For more information, check out skillsusa.org.
Mike Bonicker is lead instructor for the American Boat & Yacht Council.
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.
