Answers to Students' Questions

Q. What is VICA?

A. VICA is a "professional society" designed and run by students in the trade, industrial, technical and health occupations. Chapter members choose, plan and conduct their own activities. VICA chapters are found in high schools, area vocational technical centers, technical schools and community colleges in 54 state and territorial affiliations.

Q. Why should I join VICA?

A. Because VICA will give you the professional and technical skills necessary to be successful at work. You will learn to manage your time, communicate effectively and be part of a team. VICA will give you an edge over others when applying for jobs by putting you in contact with business and industry ... your future employers. VICA prepares you for life and offers you opportunities to achieve as an individual.

Q. What do I get for my dues?

A. When you pay dues, you get the following:

Job contacts
Opportunities to travel
Opportunities to compete
Prizes
Scholarships
Professional/leadership skills
Self-confidence
VICA Journal/information
Job advantage
Recognition

These things will improve your skills and potential, help you stand out in a job interview, and help you advance and earn more money in the future.

Q. Why do I have to pay to belong? .

A. All professional associations charge dues to pay for the materials, benefits and services, including staff, members receive. For national dues of $5, you'll receive skills that will last a lifetime, and you'll be making an investment in your future. VICA is a good deal.

Q. Will VICA take up all of my free time?

A. No. VICA is designed to be an integral part of your classroom skill training, not an extracurricular activity. You can participate in self-paced programs and be active in the classroom.

Q. Why do I need professional skills? I get jobs with the skills I have.

A. VICA is a way to change the course of your life and your future employment opportunities. The skills you have now may have gotten you a job, but can you move forward? Do you have the skills and information you need to succeed in a professional interview? Do you know what will be expected of you in a professional job? Do you have a professional rÈsumÈ? Are your current skills going to get you noticed and put you first in line for a promotion? Can you function in a total quality
management environment? VICA can ensure success by helping you improve on what you already have. What's more, VICA helps you meet national skill standards.

Q. How does VICA give me professional skills and contacts?

A. To gain the skills and benefits VICA offers, you must actively participate in VICA programs such as the Skills USA Championships and the Professional Development Program. In these programs, you will work with potential employers and students to gain and share further knowledge about your skills and professional abilities. The VICA program is laid out for you. Everything VICA promotes and emphasizes has a reason. You simply need to follow the program, get involved and participate.

VICA Reinforces What Employers Want

While employers say that the most important skills for any employee are the basics-reading, writing and arithmetic-they want much more. In addition to the vocational-technical skills needed for entry-level employment or advancement, employers need a work force that is capable of the following:

Knowing how to learn.

VICA encourages student-led learning and experimentation requiring members to absorb, process and apply new information quickly and effectively. The more capable people are of learning on their own, the greater their worth and value to an employer.

Reading, writing and computation.

Operating the student-led VICA chapters and participating in national competitive events and programs provides an assortment of opportunities to practice and refine reading, writing and computational skills.

Communicating effectively.

VICA encourages the refinement of speaking, listening and feedback skills.

Creative thinking and problem solving.

Through chapter management activities, VICA members practice and refine their problem-solving skills in groups. By learning to work effectively in a VICA chapter, members, when employees, are better able to arrive at new solutions to productivity problems.

Personal management.

VICA improves personal management skills, including: goal-setting; goal achievement; and career direction, education and training analysis. Mastery of these skills results in heightened self-esteem. VICA provides situations to practice and refine skills that can be applied successfully in the workplace to resolve problems and foster innovation.

Group effectiveness.

Employment statistics show that the team approach results in higher productivity, product quality and increased quality of work life. For this reason VICA provides "group-oriented" activities to develop and refine interpersonal, negotiating and team building skills. By learning to work effectively as a member of a group, vocational-technical students will achieve the flexibility and adaptability that America's work force must have to remain competitive globally.

Influencing others.

Fundamental to all vocational student organizations (VSOs) is the development of leadership, the ability to influence others to act in a prescribed manner or to move in a given direction. Leadership is a learned skill that must be practiced and refined in real situations. Active involvement in VICA provides vocational- technical students with numerous opportunities to develop, practice and refine their leadership skills. Once only required of a few workers, leadership skills are now among the most important workplace basics.

The VICA Program of Work

Establish committees and a chapter plan

Review the structure of standing committees and the program of work in the VICA Leadership Handbook and Organizing for Involvement. Each VICA chapter should appoint or accept volunteers for committees and develop a program of work using the chapter members. The following standing committees should be organized and a chairperson elected for each: Professional Development, Community Service, Ways and Means, Skills USA Championships, Employment, Public Relations and Social.

As soon as the committees are in place, it is time for them to begin to plan a balanced chapter program of work. The program of work is what VICA calls the activities in which members participate. It is the operating plan for the chapter. Balance is an important quality in evaluating a chapter's program of work. VICA recommends proportional emphasis on activities such as leadership development, social development, community service, fund raising, career development, skills competition and public relations. At the committee organizational meeting, committees should plan activities for the year. The committees should meet once a month and must set goals and work diligently to meet them.

The success of the VICA year evolves around a well-planned calendar of events. The chapter calendar must relate to the training areas and include both service-oriented projects and social activities. Begin this plan as early as possible in the school year. Assemble the VICA officers, the VICA advisors and a local administrator to assist in planning the yearly calendar. It must be coordinated in conjunction with school policy. The number of chapter members and the budget will play major roles in the activities that can be planned. Refer to the National VICA Leadership Handbook and the VICA Professional Development Program for ideas on chapter activities.

Once the calendar is established, the chapter secretary and advisor should keep track of special dates to expedite the mailing of invitations to guest speakers and thank-you letters. In addition, one week before the chapter monthly meeting, officers review the meeting agenda and rehearse the opening and closing ceremonies.

Postsecondary: Once an organizational structure is in place, the chapter should form both standing and ad hoc committees. The president should appoint certain standing committees of the chapter to ensure that projects and activities are planned and carried out in an orderly fashion. Committees are also an excellent method of assuring that every member is included in the mainstream of chapter activities.

VICA Curricula

A complete program of work includes the use of VICA curriculum.

The Professional Development Program

The Professional Development Program guides students through more than 70 employability skills lessons that are covered in seven levels of the program. Skills lessons include self-assessments of communications skills, ethics, conflict resolution, government awareness, time management skills, career research, and more. Use of the curriculum encourages local business involvement in the training of tomorrow's entry-level workers. The curriculum's strength lies in its flexibility. It can be used as an individual self-development course or for group instruction. It can be integrated into the existing curriculum or used as a separate course of study.

Total Quality Curriculum

The VICA Total Quality Curriculum (TQC) was designed to help meet the needs of American business and industry. These needs were caused by changes in our global economy. The American work force can no longer remain competitive using old methods. The Total Quality Curriculum enhances VICA's Quality at Work movement by preparing students still in the classroom for the world of work.