SkillsUSA is pleased to announce the appointment of Montez King, Director of Credentialing for the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), as a volunteer Expert for the Manufacturing Team Challenge students competing at the 43rd WorldSkills Competition, August 11-16 in São Paulo, Brazil. Mr. King will be responsible for preparing and mentoring three students who will join 16 other SkillsUSA students as part of SkillsUSA's WorldTeam. Mr. King will also serve as a judge of the Manufacturing Team Challenge (MTC) contest in São Paulo, but he will not evaluate the U.S. team.  

The biennial WorldSkills Competition promotes global workforce skills development and provides a vehicle for comparing career and technical students and methods of training among industrialized nations. About a thousand students, age 17 to 22, from nearly 70 countries will compete in one of almost 50 contests covering manufacturing and engineering, construction and building technology, information systems and communications technology, social and personal services, and transportation and logistics.

A grant to SkillsUSA from the Alcoa Foundation will partially underwrite the WorldTeam team and enable SkillsUSA to enter students in the Manufacturing Team Challenge contest for the first time. The MTC contest involves three student teams that perform design, production, assembly and testing of a manufactured product-all technical and career skills in high demand worldwide among manufacturers. "We are very grateful to NIMS and to Mr. King for stepping forward to assist our students in this international showcase of skilled workforce education," said Tim Lawrence, executive director of SkillsUSA. "NIMS has been a very important and loyal partner to SkillsUSA, helming volunteer support for our machining contests at our national SkillsUSA Championships and now adding the mentorship of our MTC students preparing for this summer's WorldSkills Competition."

"These SkillsUSA students are the champions of our industry," said Jim Wall, executive director, NIMS. We are not only proud to support their talents, but believe their example of hard work and 'technical athleticism' will inspire more young people to pursue in-demand careers in precision manufacturing.