When the students involved in SkillsUSA went to Washington D.C. for Sept. 20-24 annual leadership training, they were able to speak to one of the Texas representative’s aides over supporting Career Technology Education (CTE) programs and school funding.

“We actually got to talk to Randy Naugebauer’s assistant,” sophomore Yesenia Olivas said. “I can tell he really cared about the issue, and that we really made an impact.”

The SkillsUSA members also had a congressional visit with Coleman Garrison, Randy Neugebauer’s aide.

“The congressional visit was about Perkins Funding and Perkins Act,” senior Lacy Molina said. “It funds different CTE courses in high school like SkillsUSA which you need CTE for.”

Before the congressional visit they attended leadership training sessions.

“We were attending training sessions the whole day at the hotel where we were staying,” junior Judy Klassen said. “We were trained and educated on how to properly communicate with someone else professionally over a topic we were discussing.”

The next day, their buses departed the hotel to head for Washington, D.C., where they would have the congressional visit with Garrison. “Mr. Garrison was very open, and he informed us about how the representative would react to the funding,” Molina said. “

Randy Neugebauer has supported CTE for a long time, and I think he will continue to fund us.”

The Perkins Funding Act crucial for the vocational and career education.

“Without the Perkins Funding Act, we wouldn’t be able to go on school trips like these, have as good, quality equipment, or possibly have as many CTE programs available as we do now,”

Klassen said. Not only did the students attend the congressional visit, they also toured historic sites.

“We went to so many places,” Olivas said. “We went to the Capitol, Underground, and where the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, just to name a few.”

For senior Braeden Spence, the trip was not as comfortable as it could have been. He broke his collarbone while trying to save a camera after he lost his footing.

“I was stepping over a fence next to the Lincoln Memorial to get to our tour bus,” Spence said. “The tip of my foot caught the fence, and I had a camera in my hand, so I saved the camera and landed wrong on my right collarbone.”

Despite the accident, the SkillsUSA students said that they made a positive impact. Klassen said the group as a whole may have convinced the aide to continue supporting the Perkins Funding Act.

“A lot of our future careers depend on these programs provided for us right now with the support of Perkins Funding,” Klassen said. “We told our aide this along with all of the benefits that it had provided us, and I believe he was very convinced over this topic and will continue supporting it in any way he can.”