What:

    SkillsUSA-VICA is a national organization serving more than 245,000 high school and college students and professional members who are enrolled in training programs in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations.

Where:

    SkillsUSA-VICA has almost a quarter million student members annually, organized into 13,000 chapters and 54 state and territorial associations (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands).

Its Purpose:

    SkillsUSA-VICA prepares America's high performance workers. It provides quality education experiences for students in leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development. It builds and reinforces self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. It emphasizes total quality at work, high ethical standards, superior work skills, life-long education and pride in the dignity of work. SkillsUSA-VICA also promotes understanding of the free enterprise system and involvement in community service activities.

Partnerships With Business/Education/Students:

    Approximately 13,000 teachers and school administrators serve as professional SkillsUSA-VICA members and instructors. More than 1,000 corporations, trade associations and labor unions actively support SkillsUSA-VICA on a national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions, and involvement of their people in SkillsUSA-VICA activities. Many more work directly with state associations and local chapters.

SkillsUSA-VICA Programs:

    SkillsUSA-VICA programs include local, state and national competitions in which students demonstrate occupational and leadership skills. During the annual national-level SkillsUSA Championships, more than 4,100 students compete in 73 occupational and leadership skill areas. SkillsUSA-VICA programs also help to establish industry standards for job skill training in the classroom.

    The SkillsUSA-VICA Total Quality Curriculum enhances SkillsUSA-VICA's Quality at Work movement by preparing students for the world of work starting in the classroom. The curriculum emphasizes the competencies and essential workplace basic skills identified by employers and the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS).

    The Professional Development Program is a self-paced curriculum for secondary and college students. It teaches skills such as effective communication and management, teamwork, networking, workplace ethics, job interviewing and more. The curriculum involves local industry and academics and can be used in day-trades, apprenticeship training, cooperative education, school-to-work, academic and special needs programs.