Dakota Ridge Skills USA Team Named Outstanding Minnesota Chapter

took first place in the Outstanding Chapter competition at the Minnesota SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference in March this year, and was recognized this week by the District 196 school board for the accomplishment.

In addition, teacher advisor Carrie Wilson-Smith was selected 2012 High School Advisor of the Year.

This was the fourth year Dakota Ridge did a community service project for SkillsUSA, a national career and technical co-curricular organization. Students collected tennis shoes and donated them to people in other countries; for each pound of shoes, the team received 50 cents for District 196 scholarships, Wilson-Smith wrote in an email.

Last year, students racked up 500 volunteer hours , and donated everything to the Rosemount Neighborhood Resource Center.

Students Hannah Solinger-Hillenbrand, Deslyn Golden and Nick Soderblom will represent Dakota Ridge in this year's Outstanding Chapter competition at the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City June 23-27.

Solinger-Hillenbrand and Golden were elected state officers of SkillsUSA Minnesota last fall and have served in those roles this school year. In addition to the one first-place finish at the state conference, these three students took third place in the Community Service and Promotional Bulletin Board competitions, along with classmate Austin Miller, who also took third in the Action Skills competition.

Dakota Ridge School serves students with special emotional and behavioral needs. The SkillsUSA program serves all students, not just those with special needs, in its mission to help its members become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.