2007 State Conference Opening Session Welcome Address

by Danielle Hayes, State Vice-President

Good evening, fellow SkillsUSA members, advisors, industry partners and special guests. It is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of our state association.

I am truly honored to stand before you as your State Vice President and presiding officer for this, our 33rd Annual State Leadership and Skills Conference.

This conference; is an important event for career and technical education because it is here that we discover our potential and celebrate our talents.

SkillsUSA’s mission has long been to prepare career and technical education students, like us, to become World–Class Workers and Responsible American Citizens.

This conference is dedicated to achieving that mission through leadership, citizenship and the demonstration of skill.

As members of SkillsUSA we believe in high standards … we believe satisfaction is achieved by quality work and we believe in the American way of life.

These beliefs, at the foundation of our purpose, assist us in continuing the tradition of excellence in career and technical education.

Only in career and technical education do students like ourselves have the opportunity to learn these skills, which will prepare us to assume our place in the workforce as leaders.

The theme, which has been chosen for this conference is SkillsUSA, “Purpose, Pride and Passion.”

SkillsUSA provides us with countless opportunities to seek our purpose, develop a sense of pride and celebrate our passion.

We accomplish these goals through a unique combination of skill and personal development, high quality academic preparation and community service.

While we are all here with dreams of gold, SkillsUSA is not about winning; it is about challenging ourselves and developing our own individual potential and skills for the future.

SkillsUSA is also about learning who we are as individuals.

All people are faced with challenges in life. Many of you faced challenges in your quest to qualify for the right to be here … and as I think about it … my greatest challenge has been simply the process of growing up.

At the start of my high school career, I was like most kids that age, quiet, shy and trying to fit in.

I came to Blue Hills Technical High School with a very strong sense of family and life was simple … but I soon found out how challenging the real world can be when you don’t ever quite get over being shy and fail to master the fitting in part.

I, like many of you, had to work hard at becoming the best I could be and more difficult than that was developing the confidence necessary to be a leader.

A few weeks ago, I opened a photo album to look back at some pictures of my high school career and I smiled embarrassedly. I thought to myself … How young, how very sweet, but also … how ill–prepared and how very naive.

I was definitely an introvert, painfully shy and so afraid, all of the time.

Afraid of making a mistake, afraid of doing something/anything wrong, of hurting someone and of course afraid of not being liked.

I felt that I was always being judged and to stand out was not going to be a good thing. To me, it was better to fade into the background and not be noticed at all.

Then, I turned the pages forward, to some pictures from my first year as a SkillsUSA member. Again, I smiled but this time not so embarrassedly.

Still, I thought how very young and ill–prepared. Still, very shy and quiet but now I could see something different in my eyes, an excitement … as if I were about to solve an important riddle.

Three days after my first SkillsUSA conference, the first real clue to the riddle came as I walked straight up to my advisor and told her that I was going to be a state officer and that’s where I began to see the answer.

One year later, I was standing in front of 250 delegates campaigning for the chance to represent thousands of students from across Massachusetts and tonight I stand before you in the role of a student leader.

Representing SkillsUSA, as your State Vice President, has also given me additional clues … through the training and opportunities afforded to state officers.

Through these opportunities I have found my purpose, developed pride in myself and discovered my passion.

There are secrets I still have left to find … there are reasons I am not yet wise enough to see but I am embracing the lessons I have learned while trying not to forget who I am and where I came from.

My basic characteristics have not changed. I am still a student, a daughter, a friend, and even a ballet dancer but now, I am much more confident and comfortable with myself.

When I look back at that girl in the photos, I just want to give her clues … to laugh, smile, breath, and don’t be so scared all of the time.

Tonight, I stand here as one with all of you, not just an officer but a friend amongst my peers, a dedicated worker in my trade area of preschool teaching, and a service helper in my community.

Elaine Maxwell once said “My will shall shape the future… my choice, my responsibility; win or lose only I hold the key to my destiny.”

It is important for every one of us to embrace these words and give all that we have.

Prior to my SkillsUSA experience, I wasn’t sure if it was possible for one person to actually have an effect on world issues.

Earlier this year, my fellow state officers and I came to training where we herd the heartwarming story of an Autistic boy.

As a team, we immediately felt that not enough people knew about Autism and as state officers of an organization like SkillsUSA we felt that this was not only our chance to spread the word about Autism and get involved … but it was also our responsibility.

We had the power to make a change and raise awareness. This would become one of our most important missions and our greatest accomplishment.

Never before, have I felt like I had such power in starting something so positive.

I hadn’t stopped any terrorist or found the answer to the Aids epidemic in South Africa but I had made a difference and this was only the beginning.

Mother Teresa once said, “I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.”

To be a part of something that is purposeful and making a difference in the world is by far one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Every one of us has a purpose and as SkillsUSA members our collective purpose is to prepare for Leadership in the World of Work.

As long as we continue to have a purpose and try … we will eventually arrive at the answer to the riddle of terrorist attacks, the HIV/Aids epidemic and even world hunger.

From this podium, I can honestly say that my involvement with SkillsUSA and the state executive council has given me a new life and a future.

I encourage all of you to keep an open mind this weekend because, if you allow it, this conference, this organization, and life in general will give you an opportunity to grow everyday, and understand that there is a reason for the world and an answer to every riddle …