In late June, thousands of students studying for careers in collision repair gathered at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia to compete in the SkillsUSA Championship.
SkillsUSA is a career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college, and middle school students. The events and competitions cover many career paths and skills that don’t necessarily fall into a typical four-year degree program, including collision repair.The 2022 Championship was the first year that Collision Damage Appraisal was offered as an official area of competition. In the past, it has only been considered a demonstration of skills, rather than an area that has the potential to win scholarships.CCC has been involved in SkillsUSA at the state level in Illinois since 2015, and at a national level for the last four years. As a member of the National Committee for SkillsUSA, CCC supports the younger generation that will ultimately be the incoming workforce.“It’s nice to be able to give back after 20 years in the industry,” National Committee member and CCC employee Paul Sprau said. “It’s great to give someone a start in the industry that has treated me so well.”Competing students used CCC ONE® Estimating software and MOTOR Guides as a part of the Collision Damage Appraisal event, giving students the opportunity to test their skills using industry-leading technology.The Collision Damage Appraisal and Total Loss Technology events challenged students to demonstrate their abilities and skills in different sections – it included a written test, skill performance, and standards and competencies in each area.Two students from Pennsylvania and Colorado took home gold medals in the Collision Damage Appraisal event.“The level of competition was higher than previous years,” National Committee member and CCC employee Dave Garson said. “The scores were tighter; the interviews were much better. They’re growing as our competition is growing.”Members of the CCC team volunteered their time to help with the events and proudly supported those competing. CCC also provided tablets for competitors to access CCC ONE on the web, as well as other software for the event.
The Universal Technical Institute projects 100,000 job openings in collision repair over the next decade. To close the gap, groups like SkillsUSA are important players when it comes to inspiring the next generation of collision repairers. Shops also can take advantage of the skills that students gain at these competitions, recruiting new talent to their shops who have a leg-up for onboarding since they’ll already be familiar with CCC tools.“Skills is a culmination of a lot of hard work at the high school level,” Sprau said. “It gives [the competitors] the opportunity to shine while using the leading platform.”CCC is proud to play a part in preparing the next generation and encourages them to pursue careers in the collision repair industry.
References(n.d.). COLLISION DAMAGE APPRAISAL AND TOTAL LOSS EVALUATION TECHNOLOGY. Retrieved June 29, 2022, from https://www.skillsusa-register.org/CRC/contentTECH/T/CollisionDamageAppraisal.pdfScores/Results and Medalist Photos - SkillsUSA.org. (n.d.). Skills USA. Retrieved June 30, 2022, from https://www.skillsusa.org/competitions/skillsusa-championships/results/
