Chapter Building Resources
Launching a Chapter
Step 1: Contact the Customer Care Team
Connecting to the SkillsUSA Customer Care Team will ensure that your questions on how to start a new chapter, engage chapter members and strengthen an existing chapter are answered. Give them a call to ask questions or ask where to locate resources.
Phone: 844–875–4557
Email: customercare@skillsusa.org
Step 2: Secure Support from School Administration
Successful SkillsUSA chapters work with school administrators from the onset. It is essential to receive permission and support from your administration to start a SkillsUSA chapter. You can write a letter or request a meeting with your administrator to secure their support for this school year. SkillsUSA Letterhead, a chapter SkillsUSA logo generator, photos and PowerPoint templates can be found in the SkillsUSA Brand Portal.
Step 3: Connect with our State's SkillsUSA Director
Once you have received support from your school administration, connect with your SkillsUSA State Director, Karmen Warner. If you haven’t done so in the past, both a SkillsUSA charter and constitution must be filled out and submitted to your SkillsUSA State Director to make your chapter official!
Step 4: Incorporate SkillsUSA into Your Teaching Syllabus
Don’t miss this fundamental opportunity to start the year off right! Ensure that students’ families understand that SkillsUSA will be an integral component of your career and technical program this year by placing information directly into your syllabus to illustrate its importance.
SkillsUSA activities and programs develop students in three distinct areas: personal skills, workplace skills and technical skills that are grounded in academics. Families will appreciate that their students are becoming more employable and gaining a competitive advance in the job market through their SkillsUSA experiences — no matter what their future career.
Step 5: Registering Student and Professional Members
Registering yourself as a professional member will allow you access to incredible professional member benefits. Review the process below on how to register as a professional member:
Take a moment to watch a short video on the impact of becoming a SkillsUSA Advisor:
Now that you’ve established your chapter, it’s time to register yourself as a professional member. There are two resources that you can utilize to walk you through the process of registering yourself as a professional member:
Professional Member Benefits
- Access to Framework Toolkit
- Access to Program of Work Toolkit
- Jump into STEM!
- Technical Standards
- E-Courses
- Advisor Professional Development
- Recognition Programs
Student Member Benefits
- Community
- Career Competitions
- Scholarships
- Connect
- Business and Industry Connection
- Promote
- Access to Events
- Recruitment Materials
- Elevate
- Leverage
- SkillsUSA Week
- NLSC
- Access to Programs
- CEP
- PVSA
- Career Essentials
- Championships
- Scholarships
- Leadership Opportunities
- Community Service Opportunities
Step 6: Electing and Training Officers
Electing chapter officers allows your chapter to move from advisor-led to advisor-supported. Students take the lead with SkillsUSA. Serving as a chapter officer is one of the best ways for students to hone their workplace and leadership skills.
SkillsUSA’s Chapter Officer Election Toolkit will assist you in conducting a SkillsUSA chapter officer election process in a virtual, in-person or hybrid manner. It is important to honor the work and commitment of the students applying for chapter office and to conduct a process that is fair and equitable for all candidates, and most importantly, identifies the candidates that can best serve your local chapter in advancing in quality while engaging all members. The actions described in this guide are suggestions and options based on experiences gathered from chapters. Each chapter may need to adjust or modify the actions presented to fit unique needs or time periods. Each chapter should also be familiar with the state officer election process for their specific state, as they may wish to mimic portions of it.
Included in this toolkit:
- Election Types
- Election Methods
- Evaluation Rubrics
- Other Election and Technical Resources
Officer Training
Train a strong officer team with the SkillsUSA CHARGE Officer Video Series. Charge is a weekly chapter officer video series that covers topics that chapter officers will find useful in the day-to-day management of their local SkillsUSA chapters. Each Charge video features an activity guide to guide chapter officer growth and development. There are 12 episodes, and each episode contains a video and downloadable activity guide. Topics include Getting to Know Your Team, SkillsUSA Framework and Chapter Officer Roles.
Officer Development
Elevate is an interactive virtual experience for local chapter officer teams that focuses on building successful chapters by equipping officers with the skills to lead and serve their chapter members.
Step 7: Recruiting Members
Now that you’ve established your officer team let’s prepare to recruit members.
Recruitment Week is designed to empower chapter leaders to recruit potential new members through a series of activities and events which promote SkillsUSA. You choose your week, review the available recruitment resources for advisors and students and get ready to recruit. SkillsUSA wants to recognize achievements of chapters that host a Recruitment Week and recruitment activities.
After your week is finished, you can submit your Recruitment Week work for the opportunity to be spotlighted on SkillsUSA Champions digital hub.
Use the Membership Form for Registration System Data Collection to gather all the information needed to join your students on the SkillsUSA member portal.
Additional Recruitment Resources/Ideas
- HOST a SkillsUSA Open House night. Invite the chapter officers to “meet and greet” any potential members and speak about the benefit of joining SkillsUSA.
- Show the “Why SkillsUSA?” video series during the SkillsUSA Open House event to showcase the many benefits and opportunities that are available through joining SkillsUSA.
Step 8: Chapter Meetings
It is essential to hold meetings on a regular basis and to inform students when meetings are scheduled. The meeting times and locations can take a variety of forms to meet the needs of your student body. Because of the integral nature of SkillsUSA to CTE programs, many chapters will hold their meetings during the school day within each class period to give everyone an opportunity to be involved. However, it is fine to get creative and hold chapter meetings when they work best for your students and their school day.
Goals for chapter meetings may include:
- Provide an opportunity for chapter members to participate in decision-making processes to determine Program of Work activities, officer elections and recognition programs.
- Set up committees to plan, implement and report on the Program of Work activities.
- Conduct activities that allow members to get to know one another and have a good time. Have FUN!
Additional Chapter Meeting Resources/Ideas
- Customize a meeting flyer with specific information. Display the flyers in your classroom, school or campus so members and potential members are aware of the upcoming meeting.
- For SkillsUSA logos, brand guidelines and other SkillsUSA Brand Center resources available to your chapter, go to: SkillsUSA Brand Center.
- Creating and using a SkillsUSA chapter social media account is a great way to share information. Instagram and Facebook are popular platforms for students to access information.
- If possible, arrange for refreshments at your meeting. A few soft drinks and chips (or orange juice and doughnuts for a morning meeting) go a long way in making students feel welcomed.
- Create an agenda for this meeting that includes upcoming dates of SkillsUSA state-related activities or conferences.
Step 9: Framework Essential Elements and Program of Work
SkillsUSA Framework
Every aspect of our program is built around the SkillsUSA Framework, which emphasizes personal skills, workplace skills and technical skills grounded in academics. The purpose of the Framework is to provide a common language to communicate what students learn in the classroom and laboratory. Show this special video to chapter members as an introduction to the SkillsUSA Framework.
Ask each student member to complete this Essential Element self-evaluation to help them identify strengths and weaknesses within the SkillsUSA Framework. This helps your chapter to create and plan your Program of Work with intentionality. When completing the assessment, include your chapter ID number, which you can find on our Registration site. (You’ll need to be logged in.) Assessment results will be emailed to the participant and advisor email address associated with the chapter. Advisors are able to receive an aggregated report of all chapter members for use in planning their chapter’s Program of Work and Framework skill-building lessons. To receive your chapter’s report, contact SkillsUSA’s Customer Care team.
SkillsUSA Program of Work
The SkillsUSA Program of Work is divided into six categories. These categories define areas of focus for a well-run chapter in the same way a well-run business may be divided into different divisions. Each category or committee has specific responsibilities, but all contribute to the overall success of the SkillsUSA chapter.
Resources, videos and activities can all be found on the SkillsUSA website and many more resources are within your Program of Work Toolkit. This is provided when you join as a Professional member and is located in Absorb, our Learning Management System.
Step 10: Attend Professional Development Opportunities
Step 11: Include Administrators in your Early Chapter Success
As you kick off your school year and get students engaged in the chapter, be sure to share the excitement and success of your events with your school administrators and guidance counselors. Chapter officers can send an invitation to administrators, deans or faculty members inviting them to bring greetings to the members at an upcoming chapter meeting or observe an activity or service project. This will give administrators an opportunity to see student members in action using their leadership skills. Have a chapter officer follow up by sending a thank-you card.
Your students are the stars of your organization, so don’t miss any opportunity to spread the message about their success and involvement in SkillsUSA activities and programs. Local newspapers and TV stations appreciate positive stories to share with their communities. Continuously consider new ways to keep stakeholders involved and informed about your chapter.
Step 12: Display SkillsUSA Posters
Introduce your student members to the new SkillsUSA theme, Ignite Your Potential, and hang the posters from your SkillsUSA Membership Kit in a prominent location in the classroom or the school hallway. These posters help to raise awareness of SkillsUSA and generate excitement among students to become a SkillsUSA member.
Chapter in Action Calendar
The SkillsUSA Chapter in Action 2024–2025 calendar is a visual poster and guide to chapter activity that provides an overview of the events, conferences and programs available for SkillsUSA members. It provides workspace for your chapter members to plan their year. Participation in SkillsUSA includes the opportunity to engage in local, state and national events throughout the year.
Your Chapter Month-by-Month
On the SkillsUSA Chapter in Action calendar, activities are listed for each month. Use the calendar stickers in the Membership Kit to mark dates for upcoming events. Review the activities for each month, select some for your chapter, and then place a sticker on the calendar as a visual reminder of upcoming events. Download the calendar resources here.
Middle School Posters
High School Posters
College/Postsecondary Posters
Program of Work
Chapter Excellence Program
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