Since 1966, SkillsUSA, a workforce development organization for students, has held the Washington Leadership Training Institute (WLTI) in the nation’s capital, bringing young adults from across the country together to further develop leadership skills and meet with elected officials.
And for the first time this year, students in the SkillsUSA chapter at San Fernando High School were able to attend.
Alongside their advisor, film and TV production teacher Michael Mitchell, eight students went to D.C.: Nataly Briceño, Leonardo Carrillo, Evelyn Corral, Kevin Garcia, Abraham Richard Manansala, Salma Mendoza, Jocelyn Rivera and Abisag Torres.
Mitchell said they’ve been trying to attend this conference for years now, but the time needed to get approval from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) meant they kept missing the deadline. After just missing their window last year, Mitchell was determined not to let the approval process slow him down again.
“Literally, on the first day of school, we started putting all of our paperwork together,” Mitchell said. “We got our final approval a couple of weeks before the event. … Everything worked out this year perfectly.”
Mendoza, the chapter’s president and a senior, said, “This was an opportunity that we’ve never had. I feel like we grew closer because we got to experience this together, and since no one had prior experience with this, we all learned together as a team.”
The group traveled to Washington, D.C., towards the end of September for what was a five-day conference. Mitchell said the students would attend workshops from sunup to sundown and network with other young adult leaders from places across the U.S., including Puerto Rico, Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Briceño, the chapter’s vice president, remarked that she felt nervous before she went to the event, not only because she didn’t know what to expect, but also because it would be her first time on a plane.
“I still have social anxiety, so it was really scary, but it was really fun to meet all these new and interesting people from different chapters,” Briceño said. “We learned a lot about leadership skills, how to be professional when you’re talking to people, how to build connections with people from different schools and backgrounds and learning how to communicate and be confident in what you do and how you go about things.”
Carrillo, the chapter’s treasurer and the only sophomore of the group, said the experience was “mind-opening” and that he enjoyed connecting with others who were just as open to learning as he was.
“I was definitely able to train my leadership skills,” Carrillo said. “Before, I was unsure of how I was supposed to help lead my chapter. But now I’m more confident in where I’m at, and I was able to learn how to [perform better] in my position.”
They also went on what’s known as the Twilight Tour, an evening tour of the capital’s historical landmarks, including Ford’s Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and where they could get a close look at the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
Furthermore, they were given some time to meet with Congressional leaders. The group was originally supposed to meet with Congresswoman Luz Rivas, but two weeks before the event began, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson had sent members home until after the midterm elections, meaning she wouldn’t be available. The students did meet with one of her staff members and got to take a look at her office.
Fortunately, they instead got to chat with Sen. Alex Padilla, an alumnus of San Fernando High, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, though their time together was short as the Senate was still in session.
“It was an amazing opportunity for the students to actually talk with somebody who has been in their shoes, in their classroom and from their community,” said Mitchell. He added that out of the approximately 40 California students who went to the conference, “we were the only ones who actually had a chance to meet with the senator, so it was exciting for us.”
Rivera, the chapter’s secretary, added, “It was very surreal. When I think about senators and politics, I think of people who came from a background that was able to support them to get to that level. So to see Sen. Padilla, who came from my school, wasn’t something I expected.
“It made me realize that it is possible to be able to get to that level,” she continued. “It’s possible to become educated and to be able to say, ‘I’m a senator. I’m a representative for California.’ … It made it seem possible for me to do anything.”
Through meeting with these elected officials, students could give their personal stories and talk about the importance of Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, which include media arts, and Perkins funding, which supports academic and technical skills training for high school students.
All in all, the conference proved to be a great experience for the group, who all received the WLTI Statesman Award, given to participants who demonstrate high levels of leadership and civic engagement and who pass a one-on-one interview where they explain their growth within CTE.
Mendoza said it was amazing to see other students from her group also receive the award.
“I noticed we were all confident. We were all bonding together and were talking about how our interviews went,” Mendoza said. “When it was announced we got the award, we were all joyous and proud of ourselves because not every student gets it, so it made us feel special.”
