It has been a busy year for Shay Dowell, a criminal justice student here at Vol State. In April, she competed in Chattanooga at the SkillsUSA State Leadership & Skills Competition, where she won a Gold Medal. Two months later, Shay went to Atlanta for the national SkillsUSA competition and finished eighth in the nation. During the fourth week in September, she had the unique opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. through the SkillsUSA student organization and attend the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI). This SkillsUSA event offers students opportunities to advocate for the skilled trades while receiving advanced leadership training.
The WLTI experience has helped mold her for her future career as an attorney. And it came with many firsts for Shay. This was Shay’s first time on an airplane and her first visit to the nation’s capital.
Once in Washington, D.C. Shay attended several classes and leadership seminars provided by SkillsUSA and received her Statesman’s Pin, the highest award given by the organization. While in this historic city, she visited several prominent locations to reinforce her learning. These included the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War Two Memorial, Reflecting Pool, Martin Luther King Memorial, Roosevelt Monument, White House, and Jefferson Monument.
The trip's culmination was the last day when Shay visited the Supreme Court and sat in the same courtroom where our top court hears arguments that affect the whole nation. She also visited the Capitol and Senate buildings, where she met the U.S. senators from Tennessee, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Haggarty. She then met with their staff members to lobby for support in education.
Shay summarizes her trip by saying, "My time at WLTI in Washington was very educational. While in Washington I met more people in SkillsUSA, and some remembered me from the competition. We had a lot of bonding time, literally one day we had eleven different meetings together. But it was ok because we all got to better know each other. We got to see so many cool monuments, and, while doing that, we got to ride the electric bikes/ scooters around. We went to so many different ones. I think my favorite was the National World War II Memorial; I liked it a lot because it had cool water styles. The National Air and Space Museum was actually crazy to see. Like there were pieces of actual airplanes in there - which they said if they were to take one of those pieces down it would actually work. There were literally so many cool things, and I got a customized dog tag made for my grandad. So there were so many cool things I got to do. Towards the end [of the week], we met Marsha Blackburn, and her team. Omg I almost forgot my favorite part, where I got to sit in the actual Supreme Court room, while listening to this man give details and facts about the Supreme Court hearings. We had to power our phones off and couldn’t take pictures."
Daphne Brown, the SkillsUSA TN PS State Director, said, "Imagine the incredible opportunity WLTI provides for students to explore our nation's capital while gaining valuable insights into leadership. Meeting and engaging with students from all over the country with so many different perspectives offers them a rich understanding of career and technical education and their role within it. It's crucial for them to converse with our nation's leaders and recognize that their voices matter. For many students, this trip is their first time leaving their county, making the chance to fly to our nation's capital and join over 1000 other CTE members a truly life-changing experience."
