NRCA Supports Creating a National Student Roofing

The National Roofing Contractors Association supports efforts to add roofing to the national SkillsUSA competition to help students demonstrate practical skills and address the ongoing labor shortage.

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit national education association serving middle school, high school and postsecondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. Through SkillsUSA, students, teachers and industry professionals work together to ensure the U.S. has a skilled workforce. Students can demonstrate their growth through career competitions at the local and state levels, and state winners compete at the national level in the SkillsUSA Championships.

In 2019, NRCA became a SkillsUSA Official Business Partner to increase the roofing industry’s outreach in career and technical fields and establish roofing as a core curriculum in schools. NRCA members are encouraged to visit career and technical education schools that offer architecture and construction programs to promote roofing as a desirable career path for young adults. Roofing professionals can share career resources such as NRCA’s recruitment toolkit and recruit students to compete at the local and state levels. A list of CTE schools is available at nrca.net/cteschools.

To date, dozens of roofing companies have established relationships with CTE schools, and the first SkillsUSA roofing competition was held at the state level in Virginia in April. The goal now is to hold up to 30 roofing competitions at the local and state levels next year and add the contest at the national level in 2023.

NRCA currently is collecting votes from SkillsUSA state association directors to add roofing to the national competition. NRCA has worked with SkillsUSA to develop a roofing contest for thermoplastic roof systems. Member companies serving as state technical directors have agreed to supply all tools and materials needed for the national contest.

Roofing professionals are strongly encouraged to call and email SkillsUSA state association directors to express support for the national roofing contest. Contact information for all state association directors is available at skillsusa.org/about/state-directors.

For more information about NRCA, visit https://www.nrca.net.