HOW RCASoCal GOT INVOLVED WITH SKILLS USA
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A LITTLE BACKGROUND
Since the 1960’s Skills USA works with CTE and high schools across the country to get them involved in education for over 120 different trades.
After many years of effort NRCA finally got roofing accepted into the SkillsUSA program as one of the trades offered. They then created a standardized curriculum that each state could follow. They chose TPO as the product type to learn. Then the real work began.
NRCA had to get support from the individual Skills USA State Chapters to add roofing to their existing curriculums and then get the local high schools/ROP centers to adopt the program. What moves the needle is getting state and local roofing industry’s support.
After NRCA’s tireless work with their members and schools they had high school students from 4 states compete at the national competition in Atlanta in 2023.
2024, students from 12 states competed.
2025 had over 18 states competing in Atlanta and now after the recent state competition, California sent its first student.
Roofing competitions taking place at any SkillsUSA competition exposes other schools to see and ideally be interested in adding roofing to their own CTE programs.
Such a school was the Kern County High.
h School District ROP program. Chad Wright, Construction Trades Instructor, was at the national SkillsUSA championships last June and saw the roofing competition and wanted to add roofing to their training options. He persistently requested Roofing be added to the California Skills USA chapter until they agreed. After a last-minute approval, he reached out to the NRCA to help with the necessary curriculum and training materials.
Kern County then needed roofing industry support for the upcoming Ontario competition. Having no industry support in their own community NRCA contacted the RCA of Southern California who rallied together the rest of the resources for the competition.
Kern County had 20 students complete the online TRAC program on TPO provided by the NRCA and four students were selected to compete in the hands on competition.
The story continued with our student competitors making the journey from Bakersfield to Ontario and impressing those of us in attendance with their attitude and maturity. In this 4-hour contest they demonstrated impressive efforts to complete their tasks.
Behind the scenes a lot of people helped these kids get to this point. It is really eye opening to realize just how many different companies and individuals each contributed to create this opportunity for them. Together look what we can accomplish.
Currently we have 4 schools in California competing in the upcoming 2026 state championship in Ontario in April.
RCASoCal is committed to raising awareness about the opportunities in roofing by connecting with students in schools, training programs, and career fairs. But we can’t do it alone.
How you can help:
- Being available for the donations of tools, equipment, supplies, and money.
- Volunteer to build an installation mock-up in a school or for the state competition.
- Be a contractor mentor to a high school or CTE class.
