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State Technical College of Missouri and SkillsUSA Missouri had to cancel this year's SkillsUSA Missouri State Leadership and Skills Conference, but the COVID-19 pandemic is not stopping the college from offering the scholarship money it would have awarded to winners at the event.
"SkillsUSA Missouri's State Leadership & Skills Conference provides students an opportunity for student growth and development, an opportunity for students to showcase and demonstrate the skills that they've learned in their CTE programs, and be recognized for their achievements," said Joey Baker, in a news release from State Tech.
Baker is the director of SkillsUSA Missouri.
SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization serving trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students and teachers in public high schools, career and technical centers, and two-year colleges.
Conference competition categories have included robotics, audio and radio production, automotive service technology, barbering, commercial baking, crime scene investigation, firefighting, masonry, plumbing and web design, among many others.
State Tech announced Thursday that while it won't be able to hand out thousands of dollars to SkillsUSA winners at the conference the college would have hosted, it is holding the SkillsUSA 2020 Video Scholarship Competition.
"We are excited to offer an opportunity for all students who were registered to attend the State Leadership and Skills Conference to compete for scholarship dollars to attend State Tech for the 2020-2021 academic year," said Chris Bowser, vice president of student affairs, in a news release.
Eligible students will have to create a video of 120 seconds or less that addresses their personal goal after high school, what their passion is for technical education and how State Tech can help them meet that goal.
Videos that best answer those three components will be selected by a committee.
Scholarship recipients will be announced on State Tech's website beginning June 1, and recipients will continue to be selected until there's no more money to give out.
A complete list of rules and regulations are available at www.statetechmo.edu/skillsusa/.