SkillsUSA is preparing for an exciting year full of leadership.

SkillsUSA is a leadership-based club, with an emphasis on workplace leadership. The club also prepares its members for many different potential professions through competitions.
“[SkillsUSA holds] different competitions everything from automotive, to photography to medical math to robotics, we do competitions in,” adviser Chris Collins said. “But our main focus is on leadership we’ve had to teach children how to be good leaders and how to be good followers as well.”

Today, SkillsUSA students will be heading out to Manhattan Area Technical College for their yearly district conference. At the conference members will be voting for new district officers and discussing past and future club events.

This year senior Zach Payne, who is currently the club’s president, plans to run for district president again, and later he will run for a state office.

“… after this conference is our fall leadership conference, which we then campaign for state office so this is kind of a stepping stone for becoming said officer,” Payne said.

The impacts of SkillsUSA doesn’t end with just the students. Collins reflects on how this club has grown great leaders, such as Payne, who has been a strong advocate for the club’s success.

“I like to see the growth and development [of the students] like Mr. Zach Payne,” Collins said. “He is my current president. I’ve seen him grow from a freshman, he has grown and now he takes charge. And he actually leads by example when he’s doing things, so it’s impacted us pretty good.”