SkillsUSA is a national workforce development organization for students, empowering them to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members. SkillsUSA serves more than 442,000 students and instructors in middle schools, high schools and college/postsecondary institutions in every state and three U.S. territories. SkillsUSA has served more than 15 million annual members since its founding in 1965. Its programming covers 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and the organization is recognized by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education and a successful model of employer-driven youth development training.
During a session held at the 2025 AED Summit, several career specialists presented “Developing a Sustainable Pipeline of Technicians Through Apprenticeships.” The session featured Eric Hill, CEO of the Youth Workforce Development Foundation, part of Skills USA Illinois, who provided a deep dive tutorial on the organization's efforts and the myriad ways it supports dealer’s needs to fill jobs.
In reviewing its process for simplifying apprenticeships, Hill identified the following steps they take in collaboration with businesses:
- Employer Onboarding – the foundation guides employers through onboarding, ensuring compliance with federal, state requirements and setting up programs with the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Seamless Integration with Hiring Practices – Aligning apprenticeship programs with the dealer’s existing hiring practices ensures smooth implementation and minimizes disruption.
- Streamlined Data Management – The Youth Workforce Development Foundation’s platform centralizes administrative tasks, providing real-time tracking and insights into apprenticeship programs.
- Growth and Competency Tracking – YWDF tracks apprentices’ skill development and milestones, delivering detailed reports to support career advancement.
- Funding and Tax Incentive Identification – The organization also identifies state-specific funding opportunities and tax incentives, assisting with grant applications to reduce employer costs.
- Ongoing Support and Optimization – The team offers continuous program evaluation, optimization, and dedicated support to address challenges and ensure program success.
Terry Stroh, regional director of Education for Employment with North Kane County Region 110 in Burlington, Ill., offered a summary of the efforts he and his staff make to support ag industry staffing needs.
“We do a lot of relationship-building with our dealers and also with students,” said Stroh.
Stroh offered updates on how they are working toward expanded solutions to address increasing need for agri-tech specialists. He acknowledged there are many companies currently out there looking for workforce development and recruitment support.
“We are focused on asking how we will meet those needs. Now that we are adding new electronics into these ag equipment machine systems, we must find those kids who are eager and interested,” added Stroh. He noted another program called Project Lead the Way, an engineering program many high schools across the country run and whom he says the organization will need to find ways to tap into those classes.
Stroh says as he walks around he starts to hear from management what their challenges are in finding students to fill positions who are not familiar with working with certain machines. Stroh goes further to ask if they have sales or IT departments, then learns more which he can take back into the classrooms in his region and focuses on finding those kids to fit those positions.
“If we wait until they are out of high school, we’re likely going to lose a good portion of them for a long period of time,” Stroh says. He says recruiters and workforce development programs are working to develop interests and discuss opportunities for potential employment in the ag and ag-tech industry as early as middle school.
“I urge dealers to allow your techs and recruitment coordinators to go out into middle schools and high schools to talk about your company. Don’t just wait until they’re juniors and seniors to discuss the internship or apprentice programs. Go find the freshman and young kids with interests aligned with these opportunities early, and do it early,” says Stroh.
He and Hill reinforced the importance of these programs, the benefits to dealers and tech businesses, and the value of tapping into organizations like Skills USA. All agreed that establishing relationships and building connections between schools, students and different industry players — from equipment dealers and manufacturers to organizations — is key to growing the next generation of skilled tech experts.
In September 2025, SkillsUSA announced “a major upgrade” for SkillsUSA members, reporting that 2025-2026 registered members now have access to SkillsUSA Pathful — an all-in-one platform connecting students, professional members, and industry partners for career exploration and workforce readiness. The initiative https://skillsusa.pathful.com/ allows members to:
- Access SkillsUSA Championships technical standards
- Foster stronger connections between education and industry
- Develop SkillsUSA Framework skills through tailored resources
- Explore and share career pathways
“SkillsUSA Pathful delivers real, tangible benefits for students and educators across the country — from career exploration tools to live industry connections to skill-building resources that meet students where they are,” according to Anderson.
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