Skills USA - History

History

SkillsUSA was originally known as the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA). Prior to 1965, attempts at what national skill organizations failed. There was still a demand for skill and trade organizations, however. In 1960, the American Vocational Association (AVA) held a meeting, where a committee was formed to facilitate a solution. Representatives from the U.S. Office of Education and the National Association of State Supervisors of Trade and Industrial Education (NASSTIE – now known as the Association for Skilled and Technical Sciences – ASTS – http://www.astsonline.org) formed the committee. By 1962, the AVA encouraged the Office of Education to hire an employee to form the national organization. At the 1964 AVA convention, powerful leaders of industry and organizational leaders to include U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Secondary School Principals spoke in favor of the proposed organization.

The constitution establishing the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America was adopted at the Trade and Industrial Youth Conference May 6–8, 1965 at the Hotel Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee. Representatives for 14 states, consisting of approximately 200 students, advisors, and business and labor representatives, gathered to choose the club's name, colors, motto, purposes and goals. The official red blazer, part of the organization's uniform, was patterned after the blazer from Illinois's organization. These representatives were from existing vocational education groups which agreed to finance the effort, from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Illinois actually provided the salary for Philip Baird to be the first executive secretary of the newly founded VICA. The National FFA Organization is credited with making the first financial contribution. The American Vocational Association offered office space at no cost in its Washington headquarters. Additionally, the AVA's Trade and Industrial Division provided a grant.

Tommy Snider from Griffin, Georgia was elected as VICA's first student president and Larry W. Johnson, the assistant supervisor of T&I education and state advisor for the Vocation Industrial Clubs of North Carolina, became the first executive secretary of VICA on July 1, 1965. He continued in the position until 1987.

By 1966, membership was up to 29,534, spanning 1,074 clubs across 26 states and territories. Additionally, the first issue of the club's magazine was produced. At the national conference, held in Little Rock, Arkansas, the VICA emblem was unveiled, and the first official state charters were presented.

In 1969, the Postsecondary Division of VICA was approved during a Constitutional Convention held in Memphis, Tennessee, bringing total membership to 82,000. The following year, the first edition of the VICA Leadership Handbook. was published.

On VICA's ten-year anniversary (1975), the organization inducted its one millionth member. Three years later, VICA saw the start of the construction of its National Leadership Center in Leesburg, Virginia.

VICA hosted the International Youth Skill Olympics—held a competition following the National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC)—for the first time in 1981, in Atlanta.

In 1995, the national competition, then known as the United States Skill Olympics, was renamed to the Skills USA Championships during the NLSC. In, 1999, during the NLSC, VICA was renamed to SkillsUSA-VICA; The name was shortened to SkillsUSA in 2004.