6.1 - SkillsUSA Report

This year, the Technical Committee is thrilled to announce a record-breaking number of participants in the Architectural Drafting Competition, marking the highest student turnout since AIBD began hosting the event in 2020.

We have a total of 23 college and 42 high school students competing. Furthermore, for what I believe is the first time, we achieved 100% attendance at yesterday's Orientation Meeting.

For the first time, we are offering the "Written Test" portion of the competition online. Students who score 70% or higher will instantly receive an email with a certificate confirming they have met the requirements for the AIBD Design Technician Level 1 program.

This proposal received a mixed reception and led to a lengthy discussion during orientation. Moving the test online required a significant change to the long-standing Wednesday schedule, which is traditionally used for both the written exam and setup day.

Ultimately, everyone agreed to give it a try. I assured the students that if everything crashed and burned and it didn't work out perfectly, then everyone would receive a perfect score for that portion of the contest.

We also attracted a record number of judges, with approximately 30 participating this year. To ensure the virtual judging process runs smoothly, Bernie Kern and Mike Keesee have kindly volunteered to help with the organization and implementation.

I look forward to reporting the results at next month's meeting.