The SkillsUSA legacy is rich with tradition, and while the organization was officially founded in 1965, the history of the skilled trades stretches back … almost indefinitely. In fact, skilled tradespeople have been passing down their abilities to “apprentices” since the earliest days of civilization. 

When the first federal law in the United States relating to career and technical education was passed: The Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act. This law was the first to provide funding to the states for agriculture, homemaking and trade and industrial education. Forty-five years later, the Vocational Educational Act of 1963 specified that vocational student organizations were an essential part of vocational instruction. Today, these organizations are called career and technical student organizations, or CTSOs, and SkillsUSA is one of eight authorized by the U.S. Department of Education. This law was also important because it recognized CTSOs as an integral part of classroom instruction and legitimate recipients of federal and state grant money to support their work.