Anyone here ever compete in Skills USA?

[Dez]

Has anyone here ever competed in Skills USA? I'm going to be competing in my trade for the first time in March and I am SO nervous. As a sophomore, I know I have two more years to try again if I lose and it's good that I even qualified AS a sophomore, so I'm proud of even doing that, but I'm nervous about competing. Can someone tell me about their experience competing and what it was like?

I'm also not sure if this is the right place to put this, sorry if it isn't!

[Choose]

Hey Dez, I tried to see if I could find anything online about other people's stories regarding Skills USA and most of the stuff I found was irrelevant stuff from the actual organization. One thing I will say is that you seem like an intelligent young woman and you should do very well. It's natural to be nervous, but my suggestion would be to try and channel that nervous energy into focusing on the task at hand. This will be a great experience for you and I look forward to hearing about it later on down the road.

Take care,
Alex

*edit* I almost forgot to ask- do you mind saying what trade it is?

[Celestial.]

Hey Dez.
Obviously, I have not competed in it. Everything I know about it is what you've told me, so, I can't help there. Still, I wanted to stop by and offer some encouragement. This seems to be something you're really passionate about, so I'm sure at the very least it will be a fun learning experience for you. And not coming last seems like a good goal.
It's perfectly natural to be nervous. But like you said, you get a second shot if you don't do all that well this time - so, that's something to look forward to. And I look forward to hearing all about it. I'm sure you'll do great.

[Le bonheur*]

It seems as though I'm the only one who's competed in SkillsUSA, or at least the only one who's coming forward to talk about it. I know I've already talked about it before, but I'll do it again; more in depth this time.

Well first off, I was a senior when I competed. I competed in Crime Scene Investigations. I first competed in school against one other team (seniors, as well). My team of three won. So, we went to the state award ceremony and won gold medals. Yay.

Then we practiced, prepared, studied, and did some more practice for the National competition. Once June came along, I hopped on a plane with the rest of the State medal winners and went to Kansas City, Missouri. There we did a bunch of activities, really not relevant, along with meetings, practicing, etc. We were there for seven days, and on day five we competed. It took a whole half hour to compete.

The day after competitions we had the award ceremony. They reveal the top 3 winners. We unfortunately didn't win gold, silver, or bronze, for National level but we found out an hour later that we got 13th out of 38 teams. Not too bad!

Now, I'm getting letters from the governor of my state and everywhere saying congratulations for making Nationals and achieving a great accomplishment.

It's truly a great feeling. Like I've told you, practice, have fun, and don't be too nervous. You'll do great. It's a great program and a wonderful competition.

<3

[Dez]

Thanks you three, it's really reassuring.

Now, I'm getting letters from the governor of my state and everywhere saying congratulations for making Nationals and achieving a great accomplishment.

Ha, wow, congratulations! My cousin did it a long time ago (he's been a graduate for like ten years) and he finds that Skills USA doesn't matter much because when he puts it on applications nobody knows what it is.

[Le bonheur*]

Oh! That's weird! A lot of people here know what it is... probably because I'm in the smallest state.

[Dez]

My cousin gave up on using it on college/job applications and stuff because nobody knew. My state's pretty small, though. Not as small as yours but still. Hm, I'm definitely getting a bit less nervous about all of this, I think I may be okay.

[Le bonheur*]

Of course you'll be okay.

[Choose]

Originally Posted by Le bonheur*

Of course you'll be okay.

This.

You still may be able to use it as a supplement to your resume. Once people realize what exactly you do and how big of a deal it is, they may look at you in a different (good) light.

Best of luck Dez.

[Total Light Storm]

Hey Dez,

I've never competed, but I know a lot of people that have.
I know someone that is doing the Crime Scene Investigation competition this year and I know people that compete/have competed in quite a few other trades.
I really wish you a ton of luck and I know you will do really well.
You are a great person and I can tell you really want to do great at skills and I know you will do amazing.

[Dez]

Thank you so much!