Jeff Plummer, BOCES SkillsUSA, Skills Adviser of the Year.
Jeff Plummer, a teacher of graphic and visual communications at the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex Board of Cooperative Educational Services (WSWHE BOCES) Southern Adirondack Education Center has been named as the New York State SkillsUSA advisor of the year. SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit organization, is devoted to rewarding students for excellence, for involving industry in directly evaluating student performance and in keeping career training relevant to employers’ needs.
To achieve this honor, Plummer was nominated by his region – one of six regions in the 15,000-member New York SkillsUSA organization – for consideration at the state leadership conference that was held in April at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Plummer’s selection was based on his commitment at all levels of state and national involvement as well as the willingness to volunteer within his own community. He has volunteered countless hours preparing students and coordinating the SkillsUSA competition.
The SkillsUSA competition is open to any students enrolled in the Career and Technical Education courses at BOCES. In addition to graphic design, students study and can compete in auto technology, culinary arts, and horticulture, nursing, heavy equipment, criminal justice, forestry and conservation, cosmetology and HVAC. High school students from WSWHE BOCES Southern Adirondack Education Center in Hudson Falls competed and placed in its annual regional and state SkillsUSA competition and will advance to the National SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City in June.
Plummer is New York’s only SkillsUSAnationally certified trainer and has provided training both throughout New York and at the national level. This award makes him eligible to seek the national regional nomination for consideration as the 2013 National Advisor of the Year in Kansas City next June.
WSWHE BOCES serves more than 41,000 students of all ages and abilities in 31 rural and city/suburban districts, in a five-county region. . The Career and Technical Education Division provides an array of classes for secondary school students as well as adults. In addition to graphic arts, the division offers classes in auto body, auto technology, automated manufacturing systems, conservation and forestry, construction trades, cosmetology, criminal justice, culinary arts, early childhood education, engineering, health care, HVAC/R, heavy equipment, horse care, horticulture, information technology, machine tool technology, small outdoor equipment, welding.