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Intro:
The following program is brought to you by the Tennessee
Broadband Association.

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Lead Tennessee Radio, conversations with the leaders moving our
state forward.

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We look at the issues shaping Tennessee's future: rural
development, public policy, broadband,

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healthcare and other topics impacting our communities.

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Carrie Huckeby:
SkillsUSA was founded in 1965, and it is a partnership of
students, teachers and industry working

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together to ensure there is a skilled workforce.

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The mission of the organization is to empower its members to
become world class workers, leaders and citizens.

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And one of those instructors, teachers is my guest on this
episode of Lead Tennessee Radio.

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Joe Marco.

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He is a cyber engineer at the University of Alabama, and he's
also an adjunct technology

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instructor for Motlow State Community College.

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He's also a US Army retired.

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Thank you for your service, Joe.

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And he is here to tell us more about SkillsUSA.

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Welcome, thanks for joining me.

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Joe Marco:
Thanks for the opportunity to come and talk about SkillsUSA.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Well, to kick us off to start us, tell me and our listeners just
a little bit more about SkillsUSA and

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what inspired you, or drew you, to get involved.

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Joe Marco:
SkillsUSA is a partnership between students, teachers and
industry.

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We work together to ensure America has a stronger skilled
workforce.

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It's a nonprofit educational association that serves middle
schools, high schools and post-secondary to prepare students for

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careers in the trade.

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What drew me to SkillsUSA is when I was in high school, my
junior and senior year in 1992 and 199 – I'm sorry, '93 and

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'94, I competed in what was called VICA – Vocational Industrial
Clubs of America.

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So SkillsUSA is what VICA was.

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So any of the older crowd that remembers what VICA was back in
the day, VICA is SkillsUSA.

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So we just added more to it, made it a little bigger.

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Before it was the skill trades of, you know, when it was
vocational, heating and cooling, plumbing.

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It was a more narrowed skill set.

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Now, it's culinary.

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It's baking. It's construction.

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It's masonry.

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It's technology.

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There's drones.

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There's everything. So it's just morphed into a much bigger,
larger competition than it was when it was VICA.

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But that's what brought me into it.

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My my teacher, Mr.

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Blatter, back when I was a junior in high school, he got me
involved, and I thought it was the coolest thing.

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When I became a teacher, I started at Stewarts Creek in 2016.

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I showed up there, and they had a SkillsUSA chapter, but the
technology department, we didn't compete in it.

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So I got with my partner instructor and said, "You know this,
we're doing it." And he didn't really know much about it.

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He knew about it a little bit, but he had never competed.

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So my first year, we decided to go and that started my track
down the SkillsUSA

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path at the high school level.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Got it. Well, you mentioned some of those technical skills, and
it is a wide variety and a good range.

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So, you know, as the students explore those options and maybe
they excel in those through

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SkillsUSA, how do you think those skills contribute to maybe,
you know, a two year and

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four year formal education makes them a more rounded, I mean, a
very desirable

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employee and very skilled.

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How does that work together?

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Joe Marco:
Well, it's kind of – SkillsUSA is unique in the way it's
developed over time.

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So not only are they competing, before they even start the
competition, just to start, you have to submit a resume.

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And the resume is not for them to compare certifications or jobs
or it really has nothing to do with

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the contents of the resume.

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It has to do with their ability to construct the resume and tell
their story on a one page document.

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And take enough pride in it to not have grammatical errors, to
have somebody check behind him and proof it to make sure it tells

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the story it needs to be told.

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That's what they're looking for in the resume.

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It's not truly the what the resume contains.

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So that's just step one of the process.

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Step two, you have to have a uniform.

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So there's actual uniform judges.

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They are third party.

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They're not associated with your competition.

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All those judges come in, they judge your uniform.

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If it says black socks, you don't have black socks.

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Guess what? You lost points.

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If it says black shoes and you have a gray stripe on those black
shoes, you lost points.

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So that's step two.

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And then step three, they conduct a job interview.

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So once they conduct this job interview, they put them in a hot
seat.

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They'll ask them some serious questions.

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Again, they're not grading them on the knowledge of the
questions they're asking.

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[It's] how they compose themselves and how they present
themselves.

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So we've gone through three phases of competition, and we haven't
even touched what they're there for yet.

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And then we get into the actual competition where it is raw,
what you know, how much better you are than the person next to

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you. And they take all that together, and that's what determines
your score.

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So if you get a top three finisher from state level SkillsUSA
applying to your industry, whatever industry it

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is, you know that they've accomplished those tasks, and they
have that ability.

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I think that's huge for industry because every time I go to the
Murfreesboro Technology Council, the Rutherford County Technology

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Council, the National Tech Council, Cyber Huntsville, any of
these places I go to and talk to industry professionals, the one

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thing they're missing is those skills right there.

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They just want somebody that can get to work on time in the
right uniform and be willing to learn.

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And if you have a top three finisher from a state level
SkillsUSA, I guarantee you you're getting that.

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And that's why it's important.

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We talked about the partnership between us and industry.

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We're going to get into that here later on in the discussion, I
think, about the importance of the partnership between the

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industry and SkillsUSA and how it benefits them.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Well, that's great to know. It's very foundational or layered
with learning the resume and everything that comes with it before

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you actually apply whatever skill they have.

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So that's great to know.

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And talking about the competition, we recently highlighted two
of the success stories of SkillsUSA on

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the TNBA website, and we also talked about it in our newsletter.

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You had two Motlow young ladies that placed first in the state
competition at the SkillsUSA State

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Leadership and Skills Conference in June.

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Mariam Tanas in Cisco internetworking, and Gabby Miller in
telecommunication cabling.

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They were the only females in a very male dominated technology
event, I think.

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And then they later competed in Atlanta, and Gabby bringing home
the bronze.

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Mariam placing in the top ten.

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First of all, it's great to see these young women compete in
technical fields, but tell us

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what the competition actually means to them and others in their
future success in their career.

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I mean, what does it provide them?

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Joe Marco:
First, I'm going to take you back in time a little bit, because
that only tells half the story.

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And it's a bit of a testament to what SkillsUSA does.

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So let's go back two years.

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Like I said, I've been in SkillsUSA.

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This is my sixth year in SkillsUSA.

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So my fourth year, Mariam, she decided she was going to compete
in telecommunications cabling.

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Now, she was a junior in high school.

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She was a dual enrollment student.

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Now she was graduating as a junior, so she was ahead of her peer
group.

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So she was one of the advanced students.

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So we decided – or I decided – that she would compete at the
collegiate level.

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She'd compete post-secondary as a junior in high school.

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Well, that immediately kind of set off her panic buttons of – or
her panic alarms – of I'm high school.

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I'm not college. Well, she had that ability.

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So we competed at the college level.

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She went to state. She took gold in the state in 2022 for
telecommunications cabling.

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Fast forward, we go to nationals, bigger group.

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There are a few girls or females in this one.

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Bigger group, much harder competition, and she took first in the
nation in telecommunications cabling in 2022 as a

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junior in high school.

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So we leave.

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Everything kind of dies down a little bit.

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She decides she's going to run.

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Now she's a freshman in college.

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She should be a senior.

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She decides she's going to run to become the president of the
Motlow's SkillsUSA chapter, which presides over

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six separate geographically dispersed locations across Middle
Tennessee.

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So she ended up getting elected to president.

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So as a what should have been a senior in high school, she's now
running the SkillsUSA chapter for Motlow, and she went on to

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run for a state officer position.

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So not only was she the Motlow President, she was the SkillsUSA
Tennessee Treasurer for SkillsUSA.

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So after this is all done, we decide we're going into 2023.

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What are our competitions going to be?

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Well, she doesn't want to do the same one twice because she
already won gold.

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She wants to try something else.

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So her plan was to take the most difficult competition in
technology for SkillUSA, which is Cisco

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Internetworking. I would train her for that.

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She would take what she learned, and she was going to train
somebody for telecom cabling.

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So Gabriel's third place win at nationals and first place win at
state was not because of me.

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It was because Mariam took her.

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She took that leadership role and mentored another student to go
on and be successful.

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And that's kind of the story of SkillsUSA.

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That's kind of like the epitome of the story of SkillsUSA is we
you know, we're training our future generations.

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Well, it doesn't get any more to the ground than that.

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I trained Miriam.

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She trained her.

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They both won.

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So the two of them became very close friends to this day.

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They're best friends now.

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And I don't think before that they had even talked to each
other.

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So it was a pretty big deal how this whole thing unfolded with
the two of them.

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Again, females in a male dominated competition.

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It was the best part of my teaching career was because Mariam
was a state officer, so when the medals got

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presented at state, when Mariam put the gold medal on the person
she trained, that kind of capped off my teaching career right

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there.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Oh, I can't imagine how wonderful that felt to see that.

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I mean, it certainly, as you said, a testament to her and to the
program and all that.

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So she sounds like an impressive young lady.

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I would love to meet her, and maybe I'll get an opportunity to
do that sometime.

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Now, do I remember correctly that was she hired by the
University of Alabama?

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Joe Marco:
Yes. So she graduates Motlow in December with her associates,
again, six months ahead.

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So now she graduated high school 12 months ahead of her peer
group.

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She's graduating college six more.

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So she's 18 months ahead of her freshman peer group in high
school.

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And she will be attending University of Alabama at Huntsville.

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She hasn't decided whether she's doing cybersecurity technology
or mechanical engineering yet, but we did hire her at the

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Cybersecurity Center for Research and Engineering.

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She is an associate researcher there.

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So yeah, we think – it was important to get her into our circle.

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That way it helps her make that transition to the university and
finish her four year degree.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah. Congratulations to her, and congratulations to the
University of Alabama at Huntsville for grabbing her up.

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Joe Marco:
Gabriel is also thinking about moving to UAH.

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She's got a little bit longer at Motlow left, but she's looking
at going that direction, too.

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And I'm very interested in seeing what Gabby – I saw what
Mariam's second year at SkillsUSA and Motlow was.

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I'm interested. I'm very anxious to see what Gabriel's second
year is going to bring here come the end of August when we start

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kicking off our SkillsUSA season.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, I'll look forward to keeping up with those two and see what
they accomplish.

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So we've talked about a little bit about the job market, and it
is changing.

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Big demand for the trades.

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Our industry, the broadband industry, is just one example.

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Recently a report came out that our industry would need over
200,000 employees to finish out

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building broadband across the nation.

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You know, there's a lot of funding coming down for that, that's
there, but finding the employees and those skilled workers.

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So as the market changes, as technology changes, how does
SkillsUSA

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align the students with those demands and, you know, and those
industries?

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I'm sure it has to do with the industry partners.

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But how do you understand where all those possibilities are and
just keep up with what's happening?

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Joe Marco:
The first thing I tell all the instructors to do is join their
local technology, like we have the Murfreesboro Tech Council,

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Russell County Tech. They need to find their technology council,
their construction, baking, whatever industry they're in.

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They need to find that.

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And the first place to start is the Chamber of Commerce.

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Go to the Chamber of Commerce.

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I tell them to start there.

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Let them point you into a direction.

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Because I think a misnomer everybody has is that when I'm looking
for an industry partner, I'm looking for money.

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That's completely false.

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Of course, I am looking for money sometimes.

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But if it's a three man shop, I don't need the money.

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I might just need them to come help train my student on
something that I'm not that sharp on.

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For example, we were connected with Ben Lomand through Larry
Flatt at Motlow.

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He connected us.

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And Ben Lomand was able to lend me some fiber optic tools, which
allowed me to train these girls before going to Skills

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in an area that we don't have tools in.

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A lot of schools don't have fiber tools because they're
expensive.

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So what happens is they get to nationals, they give them a two
hour block of instruction, and that's all they have to dive into

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this competition with.

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Well, through industry partner, I was able to get our girls
prepared before we got there.

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And I didn't need money from Ben Lomand.

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I didn't need, I didn't even need time.

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I just needed a loaner, a loaner of some tools.

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So the industry partnership, and I don't want industry partners
to be afraid to engage us because they think all we're going to

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ask for is money.

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Because like I said, the small shops with only a few people in
it, we don't need their money; we just need their experience.

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Now, the bigger shops.

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Yeah, you know, I'm going to Ben Lomand, I'm going to these
bigger companies.

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I might ask them for some kind of donations.

219
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But that's where teachers got to kind of – or instructors – kind
of got to be a little cognizant of what they're asking for and

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know their audience.

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Because in the end, if Ben Lomand gives me a little bit of time,
I'm going to be able to give them some people that

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are quality employees.

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And that's what the industry understands that.

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And a lot of these instructors don't understand that the
industry does get it.

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If they dump time and effort into us, we're going to provide
what they need down the road.

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The soft skills are one of the biggest things we're having
troubles with in industry, right?

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All of the industries. It doesn't matter what.

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You name the industry, soft skills is an issue.

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People can't talk to people.

230
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People can't show up on time.

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They don't understand how to dress appropriately and SkillsUSA 
really leverages that.

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So the tighter our partnership is with industry, the more they
are going to benefit from those results.

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SkillsUSA has a huge reach.

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We currently have over 300,000 students in SkillsUSA.

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Just because they're not winning state championships, doesn't
mean they're not learning these lessons.

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Every student in my classroom, every Wednesday, had a dress for
success day.

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They got bonus points for coming in dressed like they would go
to a job interview.

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So they still leave my classroom with some knowledge, even
though they didn't compete at a state or national level.

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If you have somebody with SkillsUSA attached to their resume,
you might want to give them a close look.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, such good points.

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I didn't realize that SkillsUSA did concentrate so much on the
soft skills as well, which are so important because they

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don't have the opportunity to show what they know in the trades
unless they get that job interview, and they can communicate and

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do the resume and all of that.

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Joe Marco:
And that's another great point.

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You know, the first thing you see on a job application or a job
posting is experience.

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One year experience.

247
00:17:22,310 --> 00:17:24,000
Well, how do you get that?

248
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SkillsUSA is that hands on experience.

249
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So if a student is graduating high school complaining that every
job wants experience, how are they supposed to get it?

250
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Well, that was their opportunity.

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So when they do go to the community college, they got a second
opportunity because a lot of community colleges, the TCATs,

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they're all participating in Skills.

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So there's their second opportunity once they realize that, Wow,
I did need SkillsUSA because it gave me that experience that the

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industry is looking for.

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Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, great point.

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And as you mentioned, going to the Chamber of Commerce, most
communities have industrial and industry committees

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that work on looking, you know, what industry has to offer in
each of your communities.

258
00:18:08,090 --> 00:18:13,910
So great point that you're not always looking for monetary
donation.

259
00:18:13,910 --> 00:18:16,050
You're looking for experience and skill.

260
00:18:16,050 --> 00:18:16,550
So good point.

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Joe Marco:
Just because I'm an instructor doesn't mean I know everything.

262
00:18:20,450 --> 00:18:23,360
There's somebody stronger in certain areas than I am.

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00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:31,270
And I leverage that every chance I get, which is why we have
eight state championships and one national championship because

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I know what I don't know, and I'm willing to accept that and go
find somebody that can help us.

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00:18:36,070 --> 00:18:37,310
Carrie Huckeby:
Great point.

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00:18:37,330 --> 00:18:44,920
So you mentioned the competition, and there are 300,000 students
in the program, which is

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awesome. And not everybody gets to go to competition.

268
00:18:49,270 --> 00:18:54,540
But how important is the competition to the ones that compete?

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Mariam and Gabriela, you know, it's on their resume, of course,
but what kind of time

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00:19:02,470 --> 00:19:05,770
commitment are these students putting in to get to the
competition?

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00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:09,610
Joe Marco:
Honestly, it's less than you would think.

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00:19:09,910 --> 00:19:10,990
Carrie Huckeby:
Really? Good.

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00:19:11,020 --> 00:19:15,850
Joe Marco:
We cover a majority of the stuff in class, so they have a base
foundation.

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Now, they will never go and win with the base foundation.

275
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So we would meet starting two months prior to the competition.

276
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I believe April was our competition for state.

277
00:19:25,660 --> 00:19:33,560
So starting in about February-ish, we start meeting twice a
week, and we really start hitting focused heavy on the standards

278
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that they're going to be tested on.

279
00:19:35,490 --> 00:19:41,330
The telecom cabling one is a little bit easier to prep for
because there's only so many ways you can do this and so many

280
00:19:41,330 --> 00:19:42,380
ways to troubleshoot it.

281
00:19:42,590 --> 00:19:50,030
Cisco internetworking, that took a lot more man hours – or woman
hours in their case – to get this pieced

282
00:19:50,030 --> 00:19:53,810
together and and cover all the possibilities she could have.

283
00:19:53,810 --> 00:19:55,230
And we still didn't cover the possibilities.

284
00:19:55,230 --> 00:19:58,760
She showed up there. There was stuff they threw at her that she
was like, I had no idea.

285
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,130
And I'd tell her, like, I had no idea either.

286
00:20:01,130 --> 00:20:04,160
So there's always going to be stuff that we don't know.

287
00:20:04,460 --> 00:20:10,760
But I'd say twice a week, two months out is when we started our
serious preparation.

288
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,700
And that's because they had a good foundation.

289
00:20:13,710 --> 00:20:15,470
I want to hit one more point.

290
00:20:15,500 --> 00:20:22,850
I'm talking about competitions that are directly related to
industry like culinary, construction, telecom cabling.

291
00:20:22,850 --> 00:20:24,980
But we have competitions that aren't directly related.

292
00:20:24,980 --> 00:20:27,800
They're kind of around the side related.

293
00:20:27,830 --> 00:20:29,550
There's a competition for job interview.

294
00:20:29,550 --> 00:20:31,620
There's a competition for public speaking.

295
00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:34,260
There's a competition for debate.

296
00:20:34,260 --> 00:20:40,730
One of my students was going to compete in cybersecurity, lost
his partner.

297
00:20:40,730 --> 00:20:42,470
And you have to do two.

298
00:20:42,470 --> 00:20:44,810
So he was like, I just want to compete in something.

299
00:20:44,810 --> 00:20:47,150
So we put him in extemporaneous speaking.

300
00:20:47,150 --> 00:20:50,360
He took third place in the state for extemporaneous speaking in
2023.

301
00:20:51,380 --> 00:20:57,800
First and second place decided they didn't want to go to
nationals, so we took him to nationals because the third place

302
00:20:57,800 --> 00:20:59,870
gets the opportunity.

303
00:20:59,870 --> 00:21:02,780
He took first in the nation in extemporaneous speaking.

304
00:21:02,780 --> 00:21:05,900
And his whole point, he was going to compete in cybersecurity.

305
00:21:05,900 --> 00:21:10,660
So there's over 180 competitions.

306
00:21:10,660 --> 00:21:13,990
If you have students that want to compete, find their strengths
and put them in it.

307
00:21:13,990 --> 00:21:21,620
It doesn't matter if it's public speaking, if it's a job
interview, there's something for everybody

308
00:21:21,860 --> 00:21:22,880
that's great.

309
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:29,960
Carrie Huckeby:
And you have a video on the SkillsUSA website that I watched from
the competition.

310
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:37,710
I was amazed, as you said, the segments, masonry, the culinary.

311
00:21:37,710 --> 00:21:39,070
I mean, it showed.

312
00:21:39,070 --> 00:21:42,430
It gave a really quick overview of the competition.

313
00:21:42,430 --> 00:21:49,540
So if anyone wants to see what you're talking about, they can go
and kind of get a snippet of that from that video.

314
00:21:49,570 --> 00:21:50,860
It was very well done.

315
00:21:50,870 --> 00:21:52,360
Joe Marco:
And at nationals, state level.

316
00:21:52,360 --> 00:21:57,310
These are all hosted or sponsored by, usually local companies or
colleges.

317
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:01,190
At the national level, it's Harley-Davidson.

318
00:22:01,190 --> 00:22:03,040
It's Ford. It's Nissan.

319
00:22:03,310 --> 00:22:07,390
You know, their motorcycle repair is hosted by Harley-Davidson.

320
00:22:07,630 --> 00:22:10,700
Cisco does Cisco internetworking.

321
00:22:10,700 --> 00:22:12,790
Bosch, Milwaukee.

322
00:22:13,180 --> 00:22:17,690
The major brands are hosting all of these competitions.

323
00:22:17,690 --> 00:22:21,890
Like, and generally when they come, they're bringing their HR
reps with them.

324
00:22:21,890 --> 00:22:23,170
They're scouting you out.

325
00:22:23,170 --> 00:22:26,920
And when you're at nationals, your students are being looked at
for jobs.

326
00:22:27,490 --> 00:22:33,160
We had the head of talent acquisitions for Cisco at our at
Mariam's competition this year.

327
00:22:33,490 --> 00:22:36,010
It's a big deal for these students.

328
00:22:36,010 --> 00:22:43,780
So a couple of days a week, a little extra work is not a lot to
ask for when it could yield opportunities that it does.

329
00:22:43,780 --> 00:22:44,920
Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, those kind of gains.

330
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,610
Yeah. So let's touch on industry partners.

331
00:22:48,610 --> 00:22:52,060
You mentioned a lot of them there; the brands at the national
competition.

332
00:22:52,780 --> 00:22:56,450
But talk about your industry partners just a little bit.

333
00:22:56,450 --> 00:23:00,640
And you talked about it earlier where you're looking for
expertise and skills sometimes,

334
00:23:04,030 --> 00:23:06,030
not always money.

335
00:23:06,030 --> 00:23:13,480
But how do the partnerships benefit the students, and how do you
establish maintain those strong relationships with those

336
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:18,610
partners and keep those students connected with those employers
?

337
00:23:18,830 --> 00:23:20,750
Potential employers, I should say.

338
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,510
Joe Marco:
It's an interesting dynamic we have between them all.

339
00:23:24,510 --> 00:23:29,510
Because at the high school level, it's a little harder to bring
people into the schools, especially with Covid.

340
00:23:29,540 --> 00:23:32,730
It kind of hurt a lot of our industry partnerships.

341
00:23:32,730 --> 00:23:36,740
Not because nobody wanted to, but because it was just too hard.

342
00:23:37,550 --> 00:23:41,510
One of the biggest things I love to do is get our students out
in the field.

343
00:23:41,540 --> 00:23:45,920
You know, I understand they can't have access to certain data,
and they can't do certain things.

344
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:51,880
But just to see what they're doing, what the bigger picture is.

345
00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:56,420
Because everybody works in a confined classroom in close.

346
00:23:56,420 --> 00:23:58,010
I use construction as an example.

347
00:23:58,010 --> 00:24:00,020
Nobody builds a house at school, really.

348
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:01,670
They build little tiny ones.

349
00:24:01,670 --> 00:24:06,710
But if they can take them to the construction site, and it gives
us the opportunities for field trips.

350
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:15,020
Again, another thing a business partner can do for us that
doesn't require anything except for time is let us just come and

351
00:24:15,020 --> 00:24:21,320
see. Let the students see because that will build their
interest, and it also remove that interest.

352
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:29,270
In technology, there are so many facets of technology, whether
it's medical, whether it's banking, whether it's payment card

353
00:24:29,270 --> 00:24:32,360
industry. There's so many different facets people can look at.

354
00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:36,050
I got a student that was a numbers genius.

355
00:24:36,050 --> 00:24:43,760
Well, you can go into the financial industry and audit their
cyber mechanisms in the financial

356
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:51,620
industry. So and getting out there into the field and on these
field trips allows these students to see the different aspects

357
00:24:51,620 --> 00:24:52,880
of what can be done.

358
00:24:53,300 --> 00:24:58,720
And that benefits the students tremendously because it helps them
find their path.

359
00:24:58,730 --> 00:25:02,780
The more exposure we can get through industry partners.

360
00:25:02,780 --> 00:25:08,900
I can sit up there and play videos and talk all day long about
the opportunities, but that don't mean anything compared to them

361
00:25:08,900 --> 00:25:14,800
going out on a field trip and seeing those opportunities and
saying, Wow, that looks pretty cool.

362
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:16,970
And it could completely change their trajectory.

363
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,880
Mariam had absolutely no desire to do cybersecurity.

364
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:25,060
She took my class as a 14 year old freshman in high school, just
because.

365
00:25:25,060 --> 00:25:31,880
And once she got involved and saw some of the opportunities in
the, – you know, I can work here for five years, get a little

366
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:35,420
bored, and I can stay in my industry and just go to a different
aspect.

367
00:25:36,170 --> 00:25:43,310
I might be repairing things this month, and then I might decide
to go and do networking the next month.

368
00:25:43,310 --> 00:25:48,220
So the opportunities to shift around within your industry.

369
00:25:48,220 --> 00:25:56,000
Because in this later generation, I think it's my generation,
there's a lot of moving, completely shifting from

370
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,280
one career to a new career.

371
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,950
Because they just either get stagnant.

372
00:26:00,950 --> 00:26:06,530
There's 100 reasons why my generation is shifting careers.

373
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:14,040
But in technology, if you get these people out there, and they
can see the options, they may not shift careers.

374
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:15,890
They may shift within their career now.

375
00:26:15,890 --> 00:26:17,510
Carrie Huckeby:
Yeah, good point.

376
00:26:17,510 --> 00:26:23,090
So how does a industry partner, or how does an industry get more
information, Joe?

377
00:26:23,330 --> 00:26:24,470
Where do they go?

378
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:27,200
Where do they say, hey, I'd like for you to bring your class
here.

379
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:32,660
I'd like to be, you know, a partner, sponsor or whatever.

380
00:26:32,660 --> 00:26:33,920
How do they get involved?

381
00:26:34,190 --> 00:26:37,160
Joe Marco:
I would again, I'd tell them the same thing I tell the teachers.

382
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,620
Let's start with the councils.

383
00:26:40,620 --> 00:26:41,840
Start with the Chamber of Commerce.

384
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,470
Chamber of Commerce is wheeled in with the schools.

385
00:26:45,470 --> 00:26:46,970
Invite schools.

386
00:26:47,180 --> 00:26:51,670
Like I said, I used Murfreesboro Technology Council a lot
because it's right here.

387
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:52,740
Send them an invite.

388
00:26:52,740 --> 00:26:53,910
Send the schools.

389
00:26:53,910 --> 00:26:56,810
Get with the CTE advisor for your district.

390
00:26:56,930 --> 00:26:58,550
I live in Rutherford County.

391
00:26:58,850 --> 00:27:02,030
We have a CT head advisor, Tyra Pilgrim.

392
00:27:02,180 --> 00:27:09,830
If anybody in the industry contact Tyra, she would make it her
priority to get them in touch with the instructors that they

393
00:27:09,830 --> 00:27:11,380
want.

394
00:27:11,380 --> 00:27:19,280
Because every school district, their CT director will make it a
priority to link up industry reps that want to be

395
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,240
partnered with schools.

396
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:27,040
Because it eases the burden on the district a lot too if they can
create those partnerships.

397
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,400
And it does generate some kind of funding or anything like that.

398
00:27:31,790 --> 00:27:39,710
Half of the devices I had in my lab were donated from another
company, whether it's quantum computing or or Ben Lomand.

399
00:27:39,710 --> 00:27:44,060
Those donations take a financial burden off the county because
now they don't have to buy that stuff for me.

400
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:51,830
So, yes, I encourage industry partners to reach out to the CT
directors of their county or their districts and start

401
00:27:51,830 --> 00:27:53,110
there.

402
00:27:53,110 --> 00:27:55,040
And send a direct invite.

403
00:27:55,340 --> 00:28:01,040
You can get on the school website, look in the staff directory 
and see who teaches technology or construction or culinary.

404
00:28:01,070 --> 00:28:03,170
Send them an email. Hey, this is who I am.

405
00:28:03,170 --> 00:28:05,290
I'm looking to partner.

406
00:28:05,290 --> 00:28:08,150
And any instructor will jump on that.

407
00:28:08,990 --> 00:28:11,990
Carrie Huckeby:
Great advice for sure.

408
00:28:12,170 --> 00:28:19,380
As we wrap up, Joe, anything, one final point that you want to
make about the program or

409
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:20,670
instruction?

410
00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:27,320
Joe Marco:
Yeah, I think SkillsUSA and again, I sat in a classroom with high
school students.

411
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:28,680
There was two of us.

412
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:30,120
We had a 300 fill.

413
00:28:30,150 --> 00:28:36,290
Each of us had 150 students from freshman at 14, all the way to 
senior at 18.

414
00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:43,860
So I've seen the entire range of demographic, and I think I have
a pretty good grasp on what's going on out there.

415
00:28:43,980 --> 00:28:49,590
SkillsUSA cannot get large enough to impact the students it
needs to.

416
00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:52,770
We need to impact, you know, Rutherford County schools alone.

417
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,020
I think we have over 2,000 students in every one of our high
schools.

418
00:28:55,650 --> 00:29:02,970
Those students need to understand the importance of getting to
work on time, being in the right

419
00:29:02,970 --> 00:29:06,660
uniform and just be willing to learn.

420
00:29:07,170 --> 00:29:13,560
And SkillsUSA is probably the greatest tool we have right now to
make that happen.

421
00:29:13,710 --> 00:29:17,070
So if schools don't have a SkillsUSA chapter, they need to get
one.

422
00:29:18,030 --> 00:29:19,400
Now, there's DECA.

423
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:22,890
There's a couple other chapters out there that do the same thing
Skills does.

424
00:29:23,610 --> 00:29:26,400
I'm only familiar with skills, which is why I'm so SkillsUSA
biased.

425
00:29:27,510 --> 00:29:34,530
Colleges, you guys are this – I'm talking about like Motlows,
TCATs,

426
00:29:35,550 --> 00:29:39,810
post-secondary education, you're the second line when it comes
to this.

427
00:29:39,810 --> 00:29:45,960
Because if they go through high school and they don't get this,
hopefully by the time they get you, they realize they needed it,

428
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,910
and you need to have it there for them.

429
00:29:48,210 --> 00:29:55,950
This is how we get our – I don't want to call it blue collar
industry – but our industry, our

430
00:29:55,950 --> 00:30:00,900
vocational or our career technical education industries on track
.

431
00:30:00,970 --> 00:30:02,250
Our construction, our plumbing.

432
00:30:02,730 --> 00:30:04,770
I mean, I tell my kids this all the time.

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00:30:04,770 --> 00:30:06,870
I got a 13 year old and 10 year old.

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A plumber that does good work, will make more money than any
master's degree I know.

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00:30:12,420 --> 00:30:14,520
But you got to do the good work.

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A plumber that does bad work is going to have no work.

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00:30:16,950 --> 00:30:20,010
So pride in what they do.

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And I do believe when you pair up our industry with the
competitive nature and the camaraderie

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that SkillsUSA builds, I do believe they develop a pride in
their work.

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00:30:35,260 --> 00:30:37,680
Because they're working in that.

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00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,480
You know, we have 27 students we took to SkillsUSA this year.

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Those 27 people still talk to each other this day because of the
camaraderie they built, and it reinforced the pride in

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what they did.

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00:30:50,730 --> 00:30:58,350
And I think SkillsUSA will have a huge hand in bringing pride
back into our industries, whatever industry it is.

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00:30:58,350 --> 00:31:01,410
Carrie Huckeby:
Such good points.

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00:31:02,370 --> 00:31:10,260
So enjoyed this conversation with you this morning, Joe, and
learning more about SkillsUSA and wish you

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every success with the program.

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00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,140
And I'll certainly do what I can to get the word out there, for
sure.

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My guest has been Joe Marco, cyber research engineer at the
University of Alabama and adjunct cybersecurity technology

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00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,510
instructor for Motlow State Community College.

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00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:34,210
You've been listening to Lead Tennessee Radio, produced by the
Tennessee Broadband Association, cooperative and independent

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00:31:34,210 --> 00:31:39,460
companies connecting our state's rural communities and beyond
with world class broadband.