SkillsUSA honors Caskey with Advisor of Year award
An Ohio career and technical teacher has won Advisor of the Year for participation in SkillsUSA at his school. The award was presented to Warren Caskey, a criminal justice instructor at Wayne County Schools Career Center in Smithville, as the winning advisor for both the state and Region 3.
Caskey served in the U.S. Army for four years before going on to college and receiving his master’s degree in career and technical education. He had a career in law enforcement for 30 years, serving as a patrol officer, school resource officer, detective, chief of police and security driver.
In 2013 Caskey was hired as a criminal justice instructor and volunteered to become the school’s SkillsUSA advisor. He’s also a SkillsUSA Ohio state advisor and annually leads a team of students in Courtesy Corps at the State Leadership & Skills Conference.
Caskey believes CTE gives students an opportunity to explore their job interest without spending lots of money and that students need to be ready to operate as they were in the workforce. To help them be job-ready, he sets workforce standards such as a dress code and behavior expectations, and he puts students in positions with responsibility and accountability.
“Teaching the essential elements is an integral part of preparing students for career success,” he said. “They are an important scaffold in providing these skills to students.”
Caskey teaches the essential elements of the SkillsUSA framework in many different activities during the school year. “Having my classroom being student-led is key to students adopting the framework,” he said. “They need to see their peers practice the ideals and activities in a professional way, providing a positive example in real-life practice.”
“Warren is a SkillsUSA champion with a true passion for helping students develop their talents and leadership,” said Chelle Travis, executive director of SkillsUSA. “He supports quality programming for students built around the SkillsUSA framework, which prepares them for further education or joining America’s skilled workforce.”
SkillsUSA created the Advisor of the Year award to recognize dedicated career and technical education instructors who serve as SkillsUSA advisors. Each state selects a winner, and then a regional winner is selected. The top-five regional finalists then compete for SkillsUSA Advisor of the Year.
Caskey’s award for SkillsUSA Region 3 represents the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.