Ethan Jamison enjoys being spontaneous and creative when he cooks at home.
Jamison wasn’t the same way when he started taking classes at the Lowndes County School District’s Career Technology Center. The Caledonia High School senior says he was more introverted nearly three years ago when he decided to try the CTC’s culinary arts program.
Not only has Jamison’s experience helped him become a better cook, but it has also shown him how to become a leader through his involvement in SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit organization that serves high school and college students, as well as professional members enrolled in career and technical education programs.
This year, Jamison is serving as state president of SkillsUSA, and next month he will travel with CTC culinary arts instructor Victoria Richardson to Washington, D.C., for the annual SkillsUSA Leadership Training Institute conference.
The event, which will be Sept. 20-24, will give Jamison and Richardson opportunities to advocate for the skilled trades while receiving advanced leadership training.
“I have enjoyed being in SkillsUSA,” Jamison said. “I really like it. The whole process started when I was in the 11th grade because I wanted to do something different that year, so I decided to sign up for anything I was offered. I didn’t know what a lot of this would entail until I did it, but I am really glad I did it.”
To help support the trip, the CTC had a spaghetti fundraiser Thursday.
‘Out of my comfort zone’
Jamison anticipates that the trip to Washington, D.C., will be similar to the one he and Richardson made to Atlanta earlier this summer to participate in the SkillsUSA national leadership conference. This trip, though, Jamison said there will be in-person visits with their elected officials on Capitol Hill to advocate for SkillsUSA and career and technical education. Students and advisors also will tour monuments and museums, take part in panel discussions with government officials and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and more.
Jamison said this will be his second visit to Washington, D.C. He said the first came when he was about 8 years old, after he won an essay contest with his brother, Austin, set up by his parents, and earned the opportunity to pick the family’s vacation destination.
Jamison, who aspires to be a lawyer, won’t have to write an essay for this trip, but Richardson said it will provide the CHS senior with a wonderful opportunity to be an advocate for career technical training.
“Being involved with SkillsUSA has helped him come out of his shell,” Richardson said. “He is really quiet, but the fact that he has the opportunities to practice the things he has been a part of thanks to SkillsUSA really has given him some confidence to move forward.”
Richardson said she noticed a change in Jamison following the trip to Atlanta, in that he emailed her a list of things he wanted to accomplish during the school year and expressed excitement about talking to elected officials and participating in leadership activities.
“He is more apt now to take the ‘bull by the horns’ without me having to kind of coax him along,” Richardson said. “He doesn’t have an issue speaking up and saying, ‘This is the way Chef wants us to do it’. He is still really nice about it. He has become really good at delegating and making sure everything gets done, and making sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
Jamison said he is eager to continue that growth, even if it means pursuing a career outside of the culinary arts. Thanks to taking classes at the CTC and being involved with SkillsUSA, Jamison will embark on that road a changed young man.
“It has gotten me out of my comfort zone,” Jamison said. “I have developed a little more of a personality since then because sometimes you don’t always know how to socially interact with people, but I am better at that thanks to SkillsUSA.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
