Rosemont, Ill.—The National Roofing Contractors Association supports efforts to add roofing to the national SkillsUSA competition to help students demonstrate practical skills and address the ongoing labor shortage.
SkillsUSA is a nonprofit national education association serving middle school, high school and postsecondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. Through SkillsUSA, students, teachers and industry professionals work together to ensure the U.S. has a skilled workforce. Students can demonstrate their growth through career competitions at the local and state levels, and state winners compete at the national level in the SkillsUSA Championships.
In 2019, NRCA became a SkillsUSA Official Business Partner to increase the roofing industry’s outreach in career and technical fields and establish roofing as a core curriculum in schools. NRCA members are encouraged to visit career and technical education schools that offer architecture and construction programs to promote roofing as a desirable career path for young adults. Roofing professionals can share career resources such as NRCA’s recruitment toolkit and recruit students to compete at the local and state levels. A list of CTE schools is available at nrca.net/cteschools.
To date, dozens of roofing companies have established relationships with CTE schools, and the first SkillsUSA roofing competition was held at the state level in Virginia in April. The goal now is to hold up to 30 roofing competitions at the local and state levels next year and add the contest at the national level in 2023.
NRCA currently is collecting votes from SkillsUSA state association directors to add roofing to the national competition. NRCA has worked with SkillsUSA to develop a roofing contest for thermoplastic roof systems. Member companies serving as state technical directors have agreed to supply all tools and materials needed for the national contest.
Roofing professionals are strongly encouraged to call and email SkillsUSA state association directors to express support for the national roofing contest. Contact information for all state association directors is available at skillsusa.org/about/state-directors.
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Since 1886, the National Roofing Contractors Association has been the home for generations of entrepreneurial craftsmen and enterprises who shelter and protect America’s families and businesses and each other. Our vision is the recognition of our members as professionals and to unite the industry to that purpose. NRCA is one of the construction industry’s most respected trade associations and the voice of roofing professionals and leading authority in the roofing industry for information, education, technology and advocacy. It represents all segments of the roofing industry, including contractors; manufacturers; distributors; architects; consultants; engineers; building owners; and city, state and government agencies. For information about NRCA and its services and offerings, visit nrca.net.
SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded in 1965 to strengthen the nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life, while helping to close the skills gap in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA’s championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA’s new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has nearly 400,000 members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of education and labor as integral to career and technical education. It has served nearly 14.2 million members since 1965. For more information, visit skillsusa.org.