By Carola Rico
On July 2, the Mexican Association of Youth Professional Skills, through WorldSkills Mexico, held a closing program at San Miguel’s Casa Hogar Santa Julia Don Bosco to mark the culmination of four months of skills development training for 12 of the center’s girls. Casa Hogar Santa Julia is a social assistance center with more than 60 years of experience caring for girls and adolescents from families in precarious conditions. Worldskills is an international organization that promotes excellence in professional technical education. Worldskills Mexico is headquartered in San Miguel and stands out as a champion in its commitment to promote the skills and talent of young people and in actively encouraging them to achieve their full potential. The girls from Casa Hogar who participated in the program spent 16 weeks learning skills such as baking, cooking, nail application, restaurant skills, photography, photo editing, and more.
The organization collaborates with prestigious companies, which allows them to open doors for employment with these companies, giving young people the opportunity to make the most of their acquired skills and knowledge.
Juan Ángel Ibarra, technical representative of Worldskills Mexico, spoke about the particular skills of the girls, which were highlighted during the training sessions. He said that the girls had previously participated in a research project to learn about the relevant training in San Miguel. Then they redirected the sessions to the particular set of skills which the girls undertook. The intention was for the girls to explore the different vocation options, find the ones best-suited for them, and then visualize where they want to go in their future.
Part of the general objective of the project is to train young people in doing their work—whatever that might be—in the most complete and successful way. In addition to helping them develop professional skills, Wordskills Mexico also works on socio-emotional skills so that the girls can join the workplace in a safe and complete way. This training plan with the girls of Casa Hogar began on February 11 and ended on July 2 with the closing ceremonies.
Worldskills Mexico emerged as a movement in 2014 through CONALEP (Colegio Nacional de Education Profesional Tecnica del Estado de Guanajuato), the national professional school of technology of the state of Guanajuato. Worldskills Mexico became independent in 2017 as a collective, and in 2019 the Mexican Association of Youth Professional Skills was created, which represents the Mexican delegation.
