LEESBURG, Va. — The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) will be providing support for the 2024 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), June 24-28, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
"ASE is honored to be part of the SkillsUSA Conference again this year," ASE President and CEO Dave Johnson said.
"We support SkillsUSA in a variety of ways, including ASE staff serving on technical committees as well as providing tests for the competitions and educational support from the ASE Education Foundation."
On the technical side, multiple ASE staff members serve on SkillsUSA technical committees for automotive service technology, automotive maintenance and light repair, collision repair technology, automotive refinish technology, collision damage appraisal and diesel equipment technology.
ASE staff members are on site at the Skills Conference to support the efforts of preparing and delivering tests in these areas during NLSC competitions held each summer.
The NLSC is considered the largest gathering of America's future skilled workforce and the "ultimate recognition" of excellence in career and technical education. The event is a week-long celebration of the skilled trades and the accomplishments of career-ready leaders from across the U.S., bringing 16,000-plus attendees, including students, instructors, industry partners, government officials, administrators and more.
ASE said it specially develops written tests for the six contest areas appropriate for measuring the technical knowledge of both high school and college level students.
These written tests are administered to students at one of the skill stations during the national competition. The score each student achieves on the tests administered by ASE, plus the scores achieved for each hands-on skill station, determine the SkillsUSA national finalists for each competition.
The top three finalists earn gold, silver and bronze medallions in recognition of their overall knowledge, ability and technical skills in each contest area.
"ASE staff members work hand-in-hand with representatives from a wide range of automotive industry organizations who come together at the NLSC to support the SkillsUSA mission of continued workforce development of the next generation of skilled professionals," Johnson said.
"Our ASE field managers support their respective state and local SkillsUSA competitions by serving as judges and helping to coordinate competitions. In fact, one of our field managers, Mike Batchelor, chairs the state SkillsUSA competitions in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee."