WLTI Part 2- A day of Sight seeing.

Sunday was Sight Seeing day! We started the day off by going to the Capitol and having a giant group photo taken with the capitol in the back ground. After that we were hurded back on the bus for our bus tour with tour guide Tony. Tony took us to the World War II memorial, The Korean War Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, showed us the hidden World War I memorial, the Veitnam memorial, the statue of the 3 nurses, The Jefferson memorial, and the F.D.R. Memorial. We saw so many interesting things and learned so much about the history of our country. They then dropped us off in front of the Air and Space museum and let us loose for 3 or 4 hours. We ate and then Bob and Karen stayed at the museum and the rest of us treked over to the white house. We also stopped at the american history museum on our way back to the bus for a quick peek. There is so much to see there and we only got a taste of all the interesting places and museums that they have. After the sight seeing they took us to the SkillsUSA national headquarters where we had a picnic and played games as well as wrote letters to the soldiers over seas. After the games were played and the buses loaded we headed back to the hotel where we as a state met and worked on our congressional visits we would embark on on tuesday. After much hard work we headed off to bed at about 11:15. Tune in to part 3 day of training.

WLTI Part 1- We have to be at the airport When???

Hello All! I know it has been awhile since I wrote anything but have I got a story for you now! This past weekend we took our State Officer Presidents to the WLTI training in Washington D.C. Kim Judd also tagged along as well as Myself and Bob and Mrs. Bob (Bob's wife). We left bright and early on Saturday morning (by bright and early I mean we had to be at the airport at 4:30 right when it opened, our flight took off before the sun was event hinking about being around) We flew from Salt Lake to Minnesota where we had a little break then off to D.C. We got to the hotel Checked in put our stuff in our rooms and went and found food at the hotel restuarant. We hadn't had a real meal the whole day and were all starving. After we ate we all went and Changed into Official Dress for the Opening Session. At the opening session we enjoyed a nice dinner and a fabulous opening speaker who inspired all of us to reach for our dreams no matter if people tell us we can do it or not. That we are the only ones who can tell ourselves whether or not we can do it or not. after that first session we broke up into sessions the students in one the advisors in another. The advisor meeting was short and sweet and to the point.. here is your hall duty and such items were quickly discussed and we left... the student session was a tad bit longer. They went over all the house keeping and did a few ice breakers. then we had a very short state delegation meeting and we went to bed! check out part 2 for a day of sight seeing in the nations capitol..

Rest Of the ROPES course (what I remember)

Okay first off sorry I am horrible at this game! Last month we had our ropes course up at the U right and I wrote a little on the first day and then.... nothing. A quick recap. The second day we went up to the U of U ROPES course. The officers all had a great time. The first half of the day they spent involved in many team building and problem solving activities. The first thing we did that morning was sit around in a circle and state our mood for the day and our name of course.. and mine was a little Tired, a little Wired (due to the energy drink I downed on the way up) and extremely excited. The Officers learned a lot about the other members of their team and it was great to watch them come together as such. After our delicious lunch of Subway we started on the really exciting and fun stuff... The actual climbing. They did 3 different Climbing elements.. They did one where they climbed up about 30 ft and then walked across a log to the other side. A few of the students even did it blindfolded. Go Them! and then they did one where again they climbed a pole up about 30 ft. and then they walked across a wire... just like the tight rope at the circus! I was so impressed with each officer and their courage and their encouragement of each other. While we were in the middle of the second one clouds started to roll in so I was put on lightning watch duty.. So I got to go sit up on the hill all alone and watch from afar the officers working together. The last element they did was one where they climbed up again a 30 foot pole and stood up on top (imagine Karate Kid but up really high in the air) and then they had to jump off. There was a trapeze out about 5 feet for them to try and grab which a few of them did and a few of them didn't quite make it... tell you what from past experience that is one of the scarier ones. I mean you get up 30 ft in the air and you are balancing on this pole and then you on your own free will have to jump off to your doom!!! haha well not your doom but that is what you are thinking. All together it was a great day. After the course we went and met up with Clark (the Net guru guy) and had dinner and then back to the hotel where Clark filled us in on what the advisors are going to be doing for ULTI then we did officer installations that night.. which were a hoot. The College officers Arrested the High School Officers and Sentenced them to a Year of Skills and the High School Officers Knighted the College officers and armed them all with Mops. It was a fun day. The next day however was all work.. We worked super hard on ULTI and planning it out. The Officers worked really hard and I am really proud of their hard work so far.. I know that they want to make ULTI the best experience for the School Officers as they can. I believe they are going to do a great job!

Day 1 R.O.P.E.S course

We are currently in the middle of our Ropes Course Training weekend... started at 8:00 this morning... Crazy! meaning that we all had to get up nice and early and not many of us are used to that. we met at 8 and started things probably about 9 or so and of course we started with Opening and Closing Ceremonies and I got the chance to say "AGAIN" a number of times. The officers have it down though and as long as they can use their big kid voices we will be amazing. the officers this year are smart and fast learners it will be a great year! Now we start the training and planning for the ULTI conference. It will get intense but it will be well worth it and the conference in October will be something you don't want to miss!! Tomorrow is the actual ROPES course up at the University of Utah. No worries we will get plenty of pics. make sure to watch for them on our facebook group page Utah SkillsUSA.

Ahmeds Meeting

Our officers are so excited about this year that instead of taking the month of July off from meeting and getting things planned and started for ULTI. Ahmed our College Pres. Took it upon himself to set up a meeting for all the officers that could make it. It was a great success and hats off to Ahmed... there were only 5 or 6 officers that made it but they got some brainstorming started and some great planning done. We had it at the Noahs Confrence center in Lindon.. and No I don't want to talk about how google map gave me the wrong directions and I drove around in circles in American Fork, Pleasant Grove, and Lindon with no air conditioner or phone for like an hour before I finally said i'm going to go to this convention center I know of and hope that it and yup I was right... guess I should have stuck with my gut instinct on that one. would have saved me a lot of time and gas and sweat. haha. We talked about the duties of each office and what is expected of them through the year. We talked about our Can drive for the fall and our KickOff event that will be happening at ULTI this year. after the meeting a bunch of the kids left cause they had get home but those of us who stayed introduced Bob to Facebook and watched the end Wild Hogs before heading over to the Pizza Factory to enjoy us some delicious food. All in all a very productive SkillsUSA meeting!

Nationals

Nationals this year took place June 22-26 in Kansas City. All of us that had the opportunity to go had a blast. Kimberlee Judd and I (Rachel) went a few days early and attended the 101-201 training were we got to meet a bunch of students and advisors from across the nation. The advisors put on a How not to dress when attending SkillsUSA functions. I was dressed as how not to come to your monthly meetings and wow was I hit... after the skit I felt like a movie star Cameras flashing people jumping in front of me just to get a pic... I don't know what all the fuss was about. haha. Also while we were there a bunch of the officers competed in various competitions.

Prepared Speech: Anthony Mitchell (High School), Justin Workman (College Post Secondary- Took the GOLD MEDAL! congrats!) Both speeches were AMAZING.

Opening and Closing Ceremonies: Crystal Moore, Hannah Holtry (Weber High School team, Took the BRONZE medal! Congrats Girls!)

Video Productions: Kelsey MacKintosh (Lehi High School team, Took the SILVER medal. YAY!)

also Kimberlee Judd ran for National Officer in the High School Division. and well she won. so Kimberlee Judd is now our Region V.P. a very big CONGRATS to her. She worked hard compaigning all week and did a great job. This also means that Meghan Bingelli has been promoted to High School State President congrats to her as well.

Also a special shout out to our girl Jeslyn who went to nationals and helped out as a delegate and also did 56 pushups for the army people and won an i-pod... one super tough cookie!

We also hit up Worlds of Fun. the amuesment park they have there. We had tons of fun on the roller coasters, and the water rides. We got soaking wet and my freshly dyed red hair quickly turned my white t-shirt a lovely shade of pink!. . . it's all good though cause I love pink! At one point Kim, Bob, and Anthony all traveled off to go play some of the games they have. When Justin, Mallory (Justin's wife) and I showed up they quickly told me to throw a few ( they were playing the game where you have to get the softball in the milk jug. well I tried once... no luck... twice... sunk it. the ball simply just went in. Meaning I won a 15 foot long stuffed snake. Yes it did come back home to Utah on the airplane. Oh we also found the most amazing place to eat. It is called T-Rex cafe and it's like the Rain Forest cafe but Dinosaurs and cooler. It was at an outside mall and unfortunately when we got done eating and were planning on doing some shopping it down poured. By down pour I mean you were soaked in mere seconds. Bob and Clark were glad because it meant they didn't have to wait for us to shop. Haha. So we hid out in the Nike store for awhile. Before quickly hitting the chocolate store and back to the van. It was a Super Hot , super Humid, and Super Fun trip. I would definately recommend it to anyone and everyone. Start saving next year will be here before you know it.

Here are a few pics. If you want to see them all find our group on facebook: Utah SkillsUSA

CTSO

In June the Officers get together with all the other CTSO State Officers and have a 2 day training on leadership and what it means to be a State Officer. This is also the first time the officers meet each other. This year it was at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. The officers had a great time learning from the Trainer Todd Gehrman "GRR" They learned Problem Solving and what it means to work as a team. Also why they were their we assigned them their positions on the team.

Your College Post Secondary Officers are:

Ahmed Elmadhoun-President, Justin Workman-Vice Pres., Megan Hooten-Secretary, Jeslyn Johnson-Historian, Jamie Beal-Parlimentarian, Melissa Trotter-Reporter, Kelsey MacKintosh-Treasurer

Your High School Officers are:

Kimberlee Judd- President, Meghan Bingeley-Vice President, Anthony -secretary, Crystal Moore-Parlimentarian, Lauren -Historian, Hannah Holtry-reporter, Brayden-Treasurer.

The team really came together and I'm positive we are going to have a great year and an AMAZING OFFICER TEAM! The officers are really excited about the upcoming year and want to make it the best year for Utah SkillsUSA Students.

Hey

Okay so as an officer team this year one thing we want to do is show everyone what we are all about and what we do each year as an officer team. So the purpose of this blog is to let everyone get to know us better. I'm Rachel I am the State Officer Trainer and am managing this blog. (be patient with me I'm new to this whole thing) Soon I'll introduce you to the State Officers. We also want to be available to answer questions for any of you out there in the SkillsUSA world. So if you have any hit us up.