Thursday, November 16, 2023
You could say that Naomi Domer, current national SkillsUSA Region 3 Vice President and a senior at Watertown High School, was born into SkillsUSA, the popular career and technical student organization that provides members with an intracurricular program for technology and engineering classrooms. Her dad is a SkillsUSA advisor for the Watertown chapter, and her mom works for the National SkillsUSA organization. But it’s clear that, while SkillsUSA has taught her a lot, Naomi has found her own path and continues to build her skills toward her goals.
“Since kindergarten, I've wanted to become a teacher,” says Naomi. “It's amazing to see what they do in support of students.”
Naomi has followed her heart ever since. In elementary, she went with her parents to SkillsUSA competitions and did the same thing members were doing but was basically not competing. In 4th and 5th grades, she was kind of a “side” member in the First Lego League. Finally, she officially joined SkillsUSA in middle school and was elected the Middle School State Liaison in 8th grade.
“In middle school I gained the passion for technology education, the shop trades, and SkillsUSA,” says Naomi. “I'm drawn to the hands-on things, but also expressing yourself in different ways through this organization.
“And I got to see what being a state officer was like. I went to nationals and competed,” she says. “And meeting [the national officers] in person was this eye-opening thing of like, ‘I could do that someday.’”
She served as state vice president her sophomore year, president her junior year (while making an unsuccessful run for national office), and ran for state secretary, winning her current office. But it’s really different being an officer, she says.
“When competing, you have a limited area to express yourself,” says Naomi. “For example, for urban search and rescue [competition], you build that robot and you're on that track to learning certain things.”
“Becoming a leader of the organization, time management was huge because we had meetings every couple weeks,” she continues. “And then self-motivation is big because I had to continue showing myself. And in 8th grade, it was really hard because I was very shy at the time.
“Coming up to nationals has been a whole new ballgame. I'm learning how to facilitate for the first time. I want to help apply it to our officer team. Learning how to facilitate and using the multicultural sensitivity and really expressing yourself without directing people was a huge thing.”
In terms of the membership, one of Naomi’s goals as national vice president is recruiting more middle school involvement.
“I want to get more [middle-school chapters] started because if we aren't getting them interested in middle school or younger, there's a low chance of closing that skills gap in the future,” she says.
It’s no surprise that she also wants to teach this population of students. She loves their mindset.
“They're open to anything, and they're just very sassy about it.”
Naomi’s taking steps to find the future she pictures for herself. Last year, she took an independent study that enabled her to shadow two Tech. Ed. teachers at the middle-school level: a metals class and a computer class. She’s already dreaming about how she might talk middle-schoolers into converting a hobby into a career.
“You could do this as a job someday, make tons of money from it,” she imagines saying to a future student. “You just need to continue to hone this ability.”
She’s in Welding 1 and graphic design this trimester, and plans to take a machine tool class next term. That’s her short-term future. And long-term?
“I plan to either go to UW-Platteville or Stout,” she says. “Hopefully I’ll come back to a school district here in Wisconsin and continue teaching that next generation and start my own chapter.”
She credits SkillsUSA for where she is today.
“I don't think I would have gotten this experience anywhere else,” says Naomi. “I really gained a family here too. It is really cool because we are a safe learning environment. You could try anything. We won't judge you because we want you to learn and grow.
“It's really cool to see the growth that we've had, too. I have members that I've seen the past nine years coming back and … sharing ‘how SkillsUSA has impacted in my life.’”
And now she has her own story to share.