Our History

1965: The Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, Inc. (VICA) was founded by students and teachers who were serious about their professions and saw the need for more training in the area of leadership in order to complement their chosen vocations. In Nashville, Tennessee fourteen states were represented as VICA chose its name, colors, motto, purposes and goals. Georgia was the first of 26 states to become chartered that year

 

1967: There were over 40,000 members in 31 states, and they began holding competitive events and introduced uniforms.

 

1969: membership was up to 82,000 and VICA developed its first theme "Speak Up for America".

 

1974: VICA purchased land for the National Leadership Center in Leesburg, Virginia.

 

1976: 5,000 members attended the National Leadership and Skills Conference in Miami, Florida and membership reached 250,000 with 10,000 active chapters.

 

1979: The National Leadership center was dedicated. During all these years Georgia VICA was becoming stronger each year.

 

The day-to-day operations of Georgia VICA were administered by a State VICA Director employed by the Georgia Department of Education. Georgia had several national officers during the formative years and was very successful in the competitive events at the National Conference, which were known as the United States Skill Olympics.
 

Each year, Georgia VICA held a State Leadership and Skill Conference, and its own State Skills Olympics. The awarding of medals and the use of the medal stands for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners were modeled after those practices at the International Olympics.

 

1994: Due to a suit by the International Olympics Committee, the name of the competitions in Georgia and at Nationals was changed to the SkillsUSA Championships.

 

1997: The Georgia Department of Education decided to reorganize the Vocational Student Organizations, by encouraging them to become non-profit corporations.

 

On July 1, Georgia VICA, SkillsUSA was incorporated by the Secretary of State and began operation under auspices of an eleven-member Board of Directors. The Board selects the State director to run the day-to-day operations. Our charter still comes through the Department of Education as does a portion of our funding. The name Georgia VICA, SkillsUSA, Inc. was chosen because we knew the name of the national organization was going to become either VICA SkillsUSA or SkillsUSA - VICA, but we didn't know which. 

 

1998: The national board of directors voted to change the name to SkillsUSA - VICA, Inc. This was officially changed on July 4, 1999 and Georgia followed this action by changing our name to Georgia SkillsUSA - VICA, Inc.

 

2004: At the Fall Leadership Conference at Jekyll Island on October 8, 2004, the advisors voted on the recommendation of the Board of Directors to change the name to SkillsUSA Georgia, Inc. This allowed the State organization to be in compliance with the National name change to SkillsUSA, Inc.