Skills - SLC updates

Advisors,

 

I have been somewhat quiet on this end, as it has been a crazy spring trying to prepare for SLC.  I am making this email in two parts, so maybe all of you will look it over.  If you are not attending state conference and you are receiving this email, you can delete right now, unless of course  you are curious as to what is happening with SLC.

1)      We have almost 1600 students and advisors attending SLC.  We will be using an overflow room for the Opening and Awards Sessions.  Next year this will not be an issue!  We will be doing some ushering to pack  the members in.  There will not be any saved seats this year so plan accordingly, except for State Officer parents and VIP coming to the session.  The opening session is open to only registered members who have received a name badge.  Everyone must wear their name badge to the Opening session.

2)      When you arrive, the DoubleTree will have a place to park your van or bus.  Holiday Inn has ground level parking.  It looks as though we will have shuttle buses running from the Holiday Inn Downtown to the Doubletree and back for the Opening and Awards Sessions.  This bus stop is located on the north of the DoubleTree on Capitol Street, accessible from the lower level.

3)      You may not be able to get into your sleeping rooms right when you show up at the hotel.  It all depends on how many guests they had the night before and how fast they can get the rooms cleaned.

4)      Conference registration will take place from 10:00 am – 1:30pm in the Flanagan Room on the 2^nd/mezzanine level of the DoubleTree Downtown.  Please try to get your packet picked up during that time – it is not just a folder with paper in it.  Most of  you will receive your registration stuff in a large box and it will take some time to get things handed out to all members.  Those of you with 30- 50 kids,  this is a large task!!

5)      Shuttles will run only to the DoubleTree Downtown Hotel and the Holiday Inn Downtown Hotel.

6)      The Social on Thursday evening will be different from the survey results sent out to you last week.  We had to make some decisions early, so here is what is happening:

a.       If you would like to take your chapter members to a movie, by all means get that planned out.  It would  have just been a nightmare on elm street for us to organize this. If you have transportation, this activity would be doable.

b.      We have a Hypnotist contracted from 9:00 – 10:30pm.  This person regularly does bigtime shows  - Vegas. I think this will be a great activity for all!  This will take place in the ball room so everyone who wants to attend may do so.

c.       We have rented four PlayStations with large monitors.  The state officers may be organizing tournaments for Madden and maybe a basketball game.  That room will be set up from 8:30 – 11:45.  We will also utilize the TTPS room (lots of tables and chairs) for students to play card games.  We have state officers that would also like to plan a pitch tournament. 

d.      Sorry, no dance this year!   There is an indoor swimming pool also.  The Holiday Inn really has a nice indoor water park!!

Skills - SLC 2

Advisors,

 

Next set of informative items:

1)      You should have all received the updated schedule.

a.       Leadership contests are on Wednesday evening.  There will be Job Interview and Prepared Speech (new this year) finals on Thursday evening at 6:30.  We hope those announcement will go out over Remind 101 or Guidebook.  We may just have to contact the advisors of the finalists – probably post the lists at venues on Thursday.  We will also interview for the finalists on the National t-shirt design on Thursday evening.

b.      Make sure your students know what time they have to be at contests on Thursday.  For the most part they all start at 8:00am and will end by 4:00pm.  We have some contests that half the registrants will compete in the am with the others coming in after lunch and finishing up by 4:00.  Others just have later starts – ECW has a 7:30 start time.

c.       On Thursday we have contests at the DoubleTree Hotel, Century Link, UNO – Peter Kiewit,  MCC Fort, MCC - ATC, MCC – ITC.  The bus schedule has been released and it will also be in your registration packet.

d.      State T-shirt designs and pins designs will be judge during the delegate session on Thursday this year, not during the advisor lunch.

e.      Advisor lunch is only for those advisors who paid registration to the conference.  I ask that you wear  your name badge the whole time you are at the conference, including lunch on Thursday.  We have a ton of new/newer advisors that really need to be able to connect a face to a name!  Thanks

f.        Lunch on Thursday – Your students will eat where they compete!  If they are not competing at all on Thursday, really a relatively small number, those members will eat at the DoubleTree Hotel.  Check for serving times of their Skills buffet.  Cori has decided on four quadrants at the century link where contestants will go for their box lunches.  If a contest is split, those competing in the morning will eat after they are done competing  - probably around noon.  If they compete starting at noonish, they will need to eat prior to starting the contest.  Contest coordinators will make decisions as to when they will break for lunch.

g.       Please try to stay on top of  your students about eating decent meals and staying hydrated!  They will be nervous and anxious throughout the three days.  They need to be drinking water.

h.      The NETA conference will be happening at Century Link also this year – same time as us!  Please let all or your staff members attending NETA to make time to walk through the Skills Floor on Thursday.  NETA has included us on their power point for announcements.   This is a great opportunity for your peers to see what skills is.  I have always said, it is hard to explain what our champions do, you just have to witness the conference to understand it!!

i.         More to come!

 

Skills- SLC 3

What?? You mean there is more??  Yes there is!!

 

1)      We are in need of help on some of our state only contests and this is my time to ask for assistance!!  Not sure why finding people for these contests is so difficult.

a.       Bridge Building – 10:00 Thursday morning at Century Link.  We could use 4-5 people to qualify the bridges and then test them with our Stress Analyzer.  There is a formula to follow – this is not a difficult contest but 3-4 people would make this a short order.

b.      Metric 500 – Ed Mills of Blair has agreed to coordinate this contest.  This will start around 10:00am on Thursday and we have some Dream It Do It members who are supposed to assist with this contest.  Not sure if I really think 3-4 of them will really show up to help – they are supposed to.  Maybe have 3-4 advisors/board members on standby.  We can leave it with the DIDI group at lunch time or close it down for lunch.

c.       Mousetrap Vehicles – Thursday evening at the DoubleTree – we need about 4 people to make this work and be done by 8:30pm.  This is a speed contest with a run through for qualifying in the tournament.  A bracket then needs to be set up to find our champions.  I would really like to be able to make up a bracket, but with all of our state only contests, we really do not have an idea how many will actually show to compete.  Registration says 41 total mousetrap vehicles, we hope to have at least ¾ of those show up.  Judges will need to set up the track( stored in Flanagan room) then break it down and take it back to Flanagan room.

d.      Research and Development – 3 teams of two.  This contest really needs one STEM minded person to judge these engineering marvels.

e.      Our judges for the National T-Shirt design are now not available on Thursday evening.  I am going to see how many actual entries (35 registered from 6 schools) we get and one of three things will happen.  If we don’t get many entries, which we have not received very many as of Sunday evening, we will have an interview process and I may ask two active advisors who do not have any entries to sit in on these interviews or we may just vote on these finalists at the advisor luncheon or we give this to the delegates to vote on also.  I have witnessed this t-shirt design contest at nationals and from what I have seen so far, only a couple have put any thought into the designs.  This is an interview on the national level and in order to get a fair shake at nationals, you need to really think about what your design means and how you came about the design.

f.        Nationals – There will not be a lot of time to ponder whether or not your Champion/s will go on to Louisville to compete June 20 – 24.  Our conference is one of the later conferences this year, that means nationals will be expecting our registrations about May 2.  

a.       Conference registration is $150.00 per/person

b.      Hotel rates seem to have gone up this year – same hotel Hyatt Regency! S/D - $140 night, T/Q - $156/night.  NOT sure if taxes are  included in these prices or not.  I have not had time to communicate with our Hotel Representative, but I will have that information right after SLC.

c.       We  have again contracted with navigator for four buses.  We are going with 56 passenger buses this year and have been guaranteed to have nicer buses than last year.  I learned from some of the negotiations I did last year, cheaper is not necessary better.  I hope to have the four buses start from four different points again to accommodate where our Champions hail from.  Costs for the buses could range from $140/person to $180/person.  Schedules will be similar to last year.

g.       On Thursday Morning at SLC, from 9:00 am – 10:30 we will have a B/I VIP session at Century Link.  Several of our board members will be on hand to share with industry what we are all about.  Tim Lawrence will also be there to present and will be a great asset for us this year.  If you have a Business/Industry member you have invited to this conference, let them know about this session.  It will be held in the VIP Suite at the Century Link in the preconference area/entryway of Hall C.

h.      You and your students will be responsible for getting the Bridges/plans and Metric 500 vehicles/plans to the contest sites by 10:00am.  We will not be collecting them at registration.  Make sure you attach the ID sheet that is on the State Only contest rules to both of these items.

Additive Manufacturing

I think the other consideration to part size needs to be addressed.  I have had a Moto 360 watch.  The band on it isn't longer than 5" for one half of it.  Try to keep your design to a single piece of the band to 5" or less (X axis)

My band actually measures 3 1/2" on the buckle side including the buckle and 5" on the 2nd piece of the band with the holes side.  If we keep a max part 5" or less, it will help greatly with printing them.  Watch how thick you make the band as well.  If you get too thick, the ABS plastic won't bend (assuming you produce a solid band)  If you come up with a different design that "hinges" in some way, then thickness isn't as big of a issue.

 

I do feel this competition is very valuable in teaching Design for Additive Manufacturing.  As a manufacturing supplier, we see this area growing more and more each year.  Manufacturer's are constantly asking us if we know of people who are versed in Additive production / manufacturing as they are looking for that skill set in future employees.  It is a trend that has been slower to catch on in Nebraska, but is very much the norm throughout the country.  Iowa manufacturers have an enormous amount of 3D printing being utilized and I think it would surprise most people the amount that is being done here in Nebraska.  Take a look at what the major Universities are doing along with our Community college system.  They all teach and utilize 3D printers.  Students need this exposure. I' even have Math & Science teachers (in high schools in Nebraska) learning and teaching with 3D printing.  Let's not give up on this competition and the way we teach students CAD modeling as this industry is here to stay and very much the way of the future.  We don't see any 2D drawing happening anymore....just saying.........

 

 

If any of you have a questions feel free to contact me directly.

 

Thanks,

 

Tim Watters

Mid-West 3D Solutions, LLC

Nebraska Office

Ph: 888-509-0690

Fax: 402-788-2802

email: twatters@mw3ds.com

www.mw3ds.com

 

 

On Thu, Mar 31, 2016 at 8:11 PM, Stahr, Greg <Greg.Stahr@nebraska.gov> wrote:

Advisors,

 

I want to apologize for taking so long to get you an answer on the Additive Manufacturing contest.  I was really hoping SME was going to give us a state only contest for this year, as they are really keeping secret about what will be happening at Nationals.  This contest is not one I really feel comfortable with, along with a whole bunch of manufacturing people in the Omaha area.  I think as of today, we have a contest coordinator, but I do not have a name!!!

 

I am stealing an idea for this contest from another state and the contest is below.  Your completed design will need to be sent to (hopefully Tim Watters) and we are hopeful he be around to produce these and also have a 3-D printer at SLC to produce another design you will have to do during the conference.

 

I am attaching the Technical Standards from last year and we will follow these except for the actual product your students will be designing.  Below is what they will need to design.  Time is now a factor, as I am sure you are holding back nasty words aimed directly at me!!!!  The teams designs will need to be sent to Tim Watters by 4:00pm on Monday, April 18, so as to give him time to print them out.  I really hope for more information to come your way early next week about this contest and what will be expected of your teams at state – also the engineering book.

 

The design problem will be a Watch Band for the Moto 360 (1st Gen) smart watch. With the build envelope no greater than 6.5"(X) by 1"(Y) by 0.5"(Z), when the watch band is lying flat. The watch band design is determined by the contestants.  Watch band must be able to attach to the Moto 360 (1st Gen) smart watch.  I think we are looking for something innovative, attractive yet strong

SkillsUSA Nebraska Photo Video

It is that time of the year when you will start receiving many emails from this office.  Please make sure you take the time to look them over!!

 

1)      We  have a site that you need to go to upload any photos you want to share of your local chapter this year. Zach Heerten will be putting these in a video that will run the 30 or so minutes prior to the Opening Session on Wednesday at state.  We neglected to get this out to you the last couple of weeks and you have until this Friday to upload your pictures on the website below.

I just wanted to confirm that an email got sent out to the advisors with a link to the site they can use for uploading photos.  The site is open until 11:55 PM on Friday, April 8, 2016.  Up until this point, I have not received anything through the site and wanted to make sure everyone had a reminder with the site closing in a few days.  Feel free to upload any photos you have taken throughout the year at the different conferences and SOLA.  It normally takes 400+ pictures to make a 20 minute video.

 

https://form.jotform.com/60658839968176

 

Thanks

 

Zach

SKILLS - National T Shirt Design - Important!

Advisors,

 

We have a change in the National T-shirt Design Contest.  We want to have the names of the finalists of this contest to you prior to coming to SLC, so we are requiring that all National T-shirt designs are received in this office, to cori.combs@nebraska.gov, by Monday evening, April 11, at 10:00pm.  Last year we had an issue that some of the finalists did not receive word they were finalists and did not make the interview on Thursday evening at state.   This year they will know prior to state if their design made the cut and can make plans to be at the interview on Thursday evening.

 

We will be assembling a committee of advisors in the Lincoln area to judge down to the 10 finalists.  I will be extending invitations later this week for the committee.  I will probably be looking for advisors who have no contestants in that contest. 

 

Again, National T-Shirt Designs are due to Cori Combs by 10:00 pm on Monday, April 11.  This does not include state conference t-shirt design or pin design, only the Nebraska National Delegation T-shirt design!

This design must be accompanied by the Identification Sheet that can be found in the State Only Contest Rules (click on conferences then SLC Advisor)on our website.  On that identification sheet, we will need the name of the student and what school they are from.

 

Looking forward to seeing some great designs.

State SkillsUSA Social Survey

Please take a moment to fill out this brief survey regarding the SkillsUSA State Leadership Conference social. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Megan Runyan
State Historian

Help us make this year's social a blast!

I've invited you to fill out the form SkillsUSA State Conference Social Survey. To fill it out, visit:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1clpfa1bXH1dZKcNiyfsUH-nOXi9jAWb271ksWhetb_w/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

Future dates of SkillsUSA Nebraska

State Leadership and Skills Conference in Grand Island.  Please note that these three years go back to our Thursday, Friday, Saturday morning schedules!

2017 – March 30 – April 1

2018 – April 12 – 14

2019 – April 11 -13

 

Mid-America Leadership Conference  - October 20 – 23, 2016 in Columbus

 

Fall Leadership Conference – September 19, 2016 - TBD

Skills - SLC - Welding, Machining, CNC, AMT - Teamworks, Welding Fabrication, Cabinetmaking, C/T Welding, Culinary and Commercial Baking

Advisors,

 

I need you to know that HS welders (GMAW, GTAW, SMAW, OXY), all Precision Machining, all CNC and Automated Manufacturing will have an orientation on Wednesday evening at MetroCC South ITC from 6:30pm – 9:00pm.  Metro will also be feeding all of these contestants, so no need to feed them prior to these meetings.  We will have buses running continuously, but they need to make a conscious effort to be there on time.  The buses will start around 5:30-5:45.  We will be sending an updated schedule out this week for you to look over and post for your students.

 

There will be orientation meetings at the Century Link on Wednesday evening also from 7:00 – 10:00.  Those contests include: TeamWorks, Cabinetmaking, Welding Fabrication, C/T Welding, Culinary Arts, Commercial Baking, and possibly CSI.  These students will need to eat prior to these meetings.  We will have buses running continuously and they need to make a conscious effort to be on time.

 

Some of you may have students in these contests(having orientation meetings) that are also competing in a Leadership contest on Wednesday evening.  Not sure just what to tell you to do, but you may have to substitute someone in, or at least send another student in this person’s place to Metro South or Century Link, so your student at least comes to the contest knowing information shared at the orientation.  If the contest is a speech contest or Job Interview contest, maybe they can compete early and then get to the orientation meeting.  Team leadership contests will take most of the evening on Wednesday.