Competitions - SkillsUSA

Secondary – Gold

Laina Call

Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College

Ogden, UT

Secondary – Silver

Jomar Rivera

W M Davies Junior Career Tech High School

Lincoln, RI

Secondary – Bronze

Jenni Ottobre

Mecosta Osceola Career Center

Big Rapids, MI

Postsecondary – Gold

Kendra Roberts

Somerset Community College-Laurel Campus

London, KY

Postsecondary – Silver

Amberlee Rehbein

Century College

White Bear Lake, MN

Postsecondary – Bronze

Chalyn D Bassett

Francis Tuttle Technology Center-Reno Campus

Oklahoma City, OK

SkillsUSA returns to Kansas City June 20-June 25, 2010 for the 46th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. Pivot Point will, once again, help sponsor the competition to promote technical and leadership skills in cosmetology.

View SkillsUSA National Championship 2009 Schedule and Instructions here.

WorldSkills Finalist Selected

Jennifer Miaczynski of the Kankakee Area Career Center in Bourbonnais, IL, has been selected as the finalist for WorldSkills 2009 Calgary, which runs from September 1-6.

Miaczynski and several others participated in training sessions in January with coaches Manuel Rodriguez and Crystal Ferry. The categories included Ladies’ Consumer Day, Hair by Night and Men’s Classic. The participants included Abby Opdyke, Bloomsbury, NJ; Carol Ayers, Flemington, NJ; Sharon Bernard, Bourbonnais, IL; Brittney Lewis, Taylor, MI; and Linda Ward, Big Rapid, MI;

Following the trails session, the students had three weeks to recreate the looks they were taught for the WorldSkills Trial photo competition. For this competition, students were asked to submit photos from various angles of their finished work.

The work was judged anonymously by Judy Rambert, VP, Education and Research, Pivot Point International; Ruth Browne of Pivot Point Australia; Leo Passage, Pivot Point Founder; and Educators Debbie Winegar and Martha Weller.

Past Skills USA Winners Chosen for WorldSkills

1999 WorldSkills Montreal, Canada

-- Kimberly Carr, Dickinson, TX

-- Coach: Debbie Winegar, Dickinson ISD, Dickinson, TX

2001 WorldSkills Seoul, South Korea

-- Kisha James, Rochester, New York

-- Laurie Salladin, WE-MO-CO Center, Spencerport, NY

2003 WorldSkills St. Gallen, Switzerland

-- Crystal Ferry, Meadville, PA

-- Shari Wilkinson, Crawford County Area Vo-Tech School, Cochranton, PA

2005 WorldSkills Helsinki, Finland

-- Viviana Zuniga, Miami, FL

-- Coach: Roxana Revello, Miami High School, Miami, FL

2007 WorldSkills Shizuoka, Japan

-- Elisa Graybill, Freeburg, PA

-- Coach: Crystal Gutshall, Sun Area Career & Tech, New Berlin, PA

2009 WorldSkills Calgary, Canada

-- Jennifer Miaczynski, Kankakee, IL

-- Coach: Sharon Barnard, Kankakee Area Tech Center, Kankakee, IL

Pivot Point has served as a proud sponsor of the WorldSkills US candidate for hairdressing since 1999.

The SkillsUSA Nationals 1^st place finalists in the secondary and post-secondary levels will be invited to Pivot Point’s Chicago headquarters to train and compete for the opportunity to represent the US at WorldSkills. WorldSkills International is a not-for-profit organization that invites skilled young people from all over the world to compete in the skills of their trade. This competition is held every two years by a different host city; 2009’s competition will be held in Calgary, Canada.

Prior to the WorldSkills competition, the finalists are coached in categories such as Ladies’ Consumer Day/Hair by Night and the Men’s Classic. This training session is then followed by the Trials competition to select the WorldSkills finalist. This year, Kankakee Area Tech Center alum, Jennifer Miaczynski, was chosen as this year’s finalist and will be trained by Manuel Rodriguez and Crystal Ferry.

Manuel Rodriguez is a word-renowned hairdresser and educator who has been a member of the Pivot Point family for over 25 years. He captured the 1992 World Supreme Championship and has been honored with numerous accolades over the years as an innovative and original artist. Manuel also serves as the US Hairdressing Expert for the WorldSkills technical committees.

Crystal Ferry was the WorldSkills candidate from 2003 in St. Gallen, Switzerland where she placed 5^th in the competition. She trains the candidates in the Men’s categories.

Judy Rambert oversees the training and judging for the WorldSkills Trials competitions at Pivot Point. As the VP of Education and Research at Pivot Point, Judy has long been an ardent supporter of technical and career education. She was the former US Hairdressing Expert for WorldSkills and continues to champion Pivot Point’s involvement in SkillsUSA and WorldSkills.