SkillsUSA Massachusetts takes on commercial roofing!

By Emma Peterson.

This year marks the first year that Massachusetts's SkillsUSA competition includes commercial roofing, all thanks to Red Dog’s Roofing.

Earlier this year, Patrick Cochran of Red Dog’s Roofing out of Fitchburg, Massachusetts stopped by The Coffee Shops™ to talk about their 2025 initiative to get commercial roofing into their state’s SkillsUSA competition. As part of making this dream a reality, Patrick had met and presented to the SkillsUSA leaders last fall. He shared a bit about that experience saying, “They wanted to really make sure that it's a good opportunity for students not just to get the hands-on training, but to be able to take those skills and essentially get into the workforce. So I did a presentation really talking about who we were, our partnerships and how the industry has evolved over the last couple of years and what our projections were for 2025.”

From there, he got the advisors together to do some training to prepare for the competition (you can get a glimpse of the action on Red Dog’s YouTube channel!). The event was hosted in collaboration with sponsors like NRCA, Duro-Last, Genflex and SRS Distribution. It truly showcased the industry’s willingness to show up to help future generations learn the trades.

And this is just the start of the journey to nationals for commercial roofing in SkillsUSA Massachusetts. From here, Red Dog and their industry partners will be providing school curriculum, hosting hands-on training with professionals, donating materials/tools and working to help participating students build an industry network. Patrick elaborated, “We are meeting the kids where they're at and we're going to bring them not only technical skills, but also work on personal development skills by bringing them to our office, allowing  them to really experience the industry as a whole.” This means introducing them to the jobs that are available on the roof, but also the jobs in the office, like logistics, accounting, marketing and sales.  

Karen Ward, the head of SkillsUSA Massachusetts, shared a few thoughts about Red Dog’s introduction of commercial roofing into the competition, saying, “Red Dog represents a company that's forward thinking, that uses the technology that thinks about the future of their industry as they're moving forward. And we want those examples for our students and our teachers. It matters because we want our schools teaching curriculum that demonstrates the new technologies in the industry that they're in.”

All of this prep-work is coming together on May 1-3, 2025 for the Massachusetts State Leadership & Skills Conference! Make sure to keep an eye out to see who is representing the state in nationals.