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Young Technicians Show They’ve Got the Right Stuff
The future of the telecommunications industry is in good hands if a skills competition sponsored by CWA is any indication.
Thirteen high school and junior college students showed that they’ve got what it takes to install cables, choose the right plugs and jacks and troubleshoot problems during the contest in Kansas City, Mo., in June.
The participants were among 4,200 young people from across the country who traveled to the annual SkillsUSA Championships and week-long conference to compete for scholarships in 73 vocational fields, from culinary arts to fixing aircraft engines, hair design and nursing.
CWA and several other unions, as well as many businesses and equipment vendors, sponsor the events, which are coordinated by SkillsUSA-VICA, a vocational organization for students.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to hone their skills and build confidence, while networking with other students, with unions and with the businesses who are their potential employers,” said Executive Vice President Larry Cohen. “And they can win scholarship money to help them further pursue their education.”
CWA has participated in SkillsUSA for three years, though this was the first for the cabling competition, said CWA Training Administrator Kevin Celata, who coordinates the CWA events. This year and for the last two years, CWA and Cisco Systems have worked together on an Internet competition. In that contest, students do network switching and routing, programming and network design.
The past years’ experience helped enormously in setting up the new competition, which will include more participants in the future, Celata said. “It was very successful. People were amazed at how organized we were. But when you’ve got enough good people working for you, it’s easy to be organized.”
All contests include a written test, and students have to work against the clock under the watchful eyes of judges who are tops in their fields. In the cabling competition, the judges included four SBC technicians from CWA Local 6333. Celata praised them for their eagerness and expertise and said he’s grateful to their manager, Larry Kinder, for giving them time off with pay to take part in the event. SBC also donated the installation of a DSL line for online testing.
The event helps students who may be unfamiliar with unions understand the role that labor plays in producing quality products and services and in protecting employees, Celata said. All of CWA’s competitors were given red CWA T-shirts to wear during the conference, making them easy to spot in the crowd.
“Now when they go into the workforce, they’ll know something about the benefits of being a union member and may be more inclined to seek work at a company that has a union,” he said.
Thirteen high school and junior college students showed that they’ve got what it takes to install cables, choose the right plugs and jacks and troubleshoot problems during the contest in Kansas City, Mo., in June.
The participants were among 4,200 young people from across the country who traveled to the annual SkillsUSA Championships and week-long conference to compete for scholarships in 73 vocational fields, from culinary arts to fixing aircraft engines, hair design and nursing.
CWA and several other unions, as well as many businesses and equipment vendors, sponsor the events, which are coordinated by SkillsUSA-VICA, a vocational organization for students.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to hone their skills and build confidence, while networking with other students, with unions and with the businesses who are their potential employers,” said Executive Vice President Larry Cohen. “And they can win scholarship money to help them further pursue their education.”
CWA has participated in SkillsUSA for three years, though this was the first for the cabling competition, said CWA Training Administrator Kevin Celata, who coordinates the CWA events. This year and for the last two years, CWA and Cisco Systems have worked together on an Internet competition. In that contest, students do network switching and routing, programming and network design.
The past years’ experience helped enormously in setting up the new competition, which will include more participants in the future, Celata said. “It was very successful. People were amazed at how organized we were. But when you’ve got enough good people working for you, it’s easy to be organized.”
All contests include a written test, and students have to work against the clock under the watchful eyes of judges who are tops in their fields. In the cabling competition, the judges included four SBC technicians from CWA Local 6333. Celata praised them for their eagerness and expertise and said he’s grateful to their manager, Larry Kinder, for giving them time off with pay to take part in the event. SBC also donated the installation of a DSL line for online testing.
The event helps students who may be unfamiliar with unions understand the role that labor plays in producing quality products and services and in protecting employees, Celata said. All of CWA’s competitors were given red CWA T-shirts to wear during the conference, making them easy to spot in the crowd.
“Now when they go into the workforce, they’ll know something about the benefits of being a union member and may be more inclined to seek work at a company that has a union,” he said.