2024–2025 SkillsUSA Massachusetts Advisors’ Handbook Chapter 3: SkillsUSA Massachusetts Operations • 37 History General Session on Thursday evening of the conference. This year also marked the beginning of two year commitments for hosting the State Leadership Conference and Skill Olympics and the creation of the Skill Olympics Management Team. The first Director of the Massachusetts VICA Skill Olympics Management Team was George W. Thompson, an Electronics teacher at Blue Hills RVTHS. The National Leadership Conference and United States Skill Olympics held in Phoenix, Arizona, saw Massachusetts VICA run its third National Officer Candidate. Karen M. Maguire, a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at South Shore RVTHS attending Johnson & Wales College in Providence, RI, ran for and was elected to the office of National Parliamentarian (Postsecondary Division), our state’s third National Officer. 1987 The Massachusetts VICA State Leadership Confer- ence and Skill Olympics was held at Blue Hills RVTHS for a second and final year. The host hotel was again the Sheraton Boston Hotel. The National Leadership Confer- ence and United State Skill Olympics was held in Wichita, Kansas. The 1987 National Conference saw Massachusetts VICA capture a record 11 National medals in the United States Skill Olympics. 1988 The Massachusetts VICA State Leadership Conference and Skill Olympics was held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Occupational Resource Center and the Sheraton Boston Hotel. The National Leadership Conference and United States Skill Olympics, held in Wichita, Kansas, saw Massachusetts VICA run its fourth candi- date for National VICA Office. Thomas G. Paquette, a Precision Machining student at Nashoba Valley RVTHS ran for and was elected to the office of National Region One Vice President (Secondary Division). Later that summer, Massachusetts VICA had three of its members selected to participate in the International Youth Skill Olympics trials held in Wilmington, Ohio. John Lentine, Jr., a graduate of the Residential Wiring program at Blue Hills RVTHS, Emile Chagnon, a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at Diman RVTHS, and Mark Belliveau, a graduate of the Electric Welding program at Leominster Trade, each earned a place on the 1989 IYSO Team USA at the Ohio trials. 1989 As the year began, the curtain was rising on the newly developed “Chapter Advisor’s Hand- book for Everyday Survival,” an all-in-one handbook for the management of a local VICA Chapter. This handbook was the creation of Bonnie Hilla, VICA Advisor and Advertising Design Teacher at Minuteman RVTHS, and Karen Ward, Executive Director. The Massachusetts VICA State Leader- ship Conference and Skill Olympics was held at the Hubert H. Humphrey Occupational Resource Center and the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston and featured the first official “Massa- chusetts VICA State Trading Pin and T-shirt Design Contests” to create the designs for the State Conference T-shirts and the National Conference Trading Pins. The National Lead- ership Conference and United States Skill Olympics was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The IYSO took place August 22-September 9, 1989, in Birmingham, England. The IYSO saw the participation of three Massachusetts VICA members. John Lentine, Jr. in Residential Wiring, Emile Chagnon in Culinary Arts, and Mark Belliveau in Electric Welding. Mark Belliveau also captured a fourth place diploma of honor for the United States of America. 1990 The Massachusetts VICA State Leadership Conference and Skill Olympics was co-hosted by Upper Cape Cod RVTHS and Greater New Bedford RVTHS. The Sea Crest Hotel in Falmouth, MA, served as the confer- ence hotel. This conference saw the evolution of the Massa- chusetts VICA General Sessions to a multi-media show of sound and lights which featured the introduction of videos to assist in depicting the theme of the conference and the student members of VICA. The National Leadership Confer- ence and United States Skill Olympics held in Tulsa, Okla- homa, saw Massachusetts VICA offer a demonstration event in Commercial Baking which was to become a premier event of the United States Skill Olympics in years to come. The event was organized by David Degan, a Baking and Pastry Arts teacher at Southeastern RVTHS, with the assistance of Norman Myerow, a Baking and Pastry Arts teacher at Minuteman RVTHS, and Karen Maguire, a former VICA member, State and National Officer. At the conference, Massachusetts VICA also played host to a group of voca- tional-technical education students who were also part of a Russian Folk Dance group from the Soviet Union. The group, Russian Souvenir, would perform Russian Folk Dances at the Opening General Session of the conference in celebra- tion of National VICA’s 25th Anniversary year. The exchange with the Soviet Union was engineered by Robert Packard, then Dean of Students at Tri-County RVTHS. 1991 The State Leadership Conference and Skill Olym- pics was held at Upper Cape Cod RVTHS and Greater New Bedford RVTHS with the Sea Crest again serving as the conference hotel. This conference saw the Carpentry event of the Massachusetts Skill Olympics featured at the World Trade Center in the midst of the Somerville Lumber Trade Show. This conference also saw Massachusetts VICA appoint a new State Skill Olympics Director. David Papagni, Coop Coordinator at Leominster Trade HS took the post in February, 1991. The National Leadership Conference and United States Skill Olympics held in Louisville, Kentucky, saw Massachusetts VICA capture a new record 13 national medals in the United States Skill Olympics. 1992 The Massachusetts VICA State Leadership Confer- ence was held for the first time in north central Massachusetts with Montachusett RVTHS and Leomin- ster Trade co-hosting and the Best Western Royal Plaza in Fitchburg serving as the host hotel. The National Leader- ship Conference and United States Skill Olympics held in Louisville, Kentucky, saw Massachusetts VICA continue on the road to skill olympic success with Massachusetts VICA capturing an astonishing 18 national medals. The 1992 National Leadership Conference also marked the end of the Department of Education’s role as the direct service provider for student organizations and saw Karen Ward, Executive Director, move into another role with the Department of Education. In November, 1992, Montachusett RVTHS success- fully wrote a grant application to assume the responsibilities Thomas G. Paquette Karen Maguire