This content was published: April 2, 1998. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
They Can Build It – So You Should Come
Photos and story by Mark Evertz
ROCK CREEK – Some of the state’s most gifted with their hands will put them on thrashed, broken or yet-to-be built items and give them life at the state Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) competition on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus.
The Oregon VICA competition will bring together 400 high school and community college students to show off their technical prowess in nearly 40 vocational trades. There will be 24 different skill competitions and seven leadership events. Highlighted at PCC Rock Creek, 17705 N.W. Springville, will be building construction, cabinet making, electrical, diesel service repair, auto collision repair and welding fabrication. Students will compete for a spot at the VICA Nationals, held in Kansas City, Mo., in June.
Spencer Hinkle, PCC building construction instructor and one of the coordinators, said this event is what the hard work over the last year is all about for VICA students in Oregon. "They’re the cream of the crop," Hinkle said. "Students from vocational programs across the state have been preparing all year for this event."
The competition begins at 7:30 a.m. on both days. An awards ceremony for the high school winners will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the PCC Sylvania Campus Performing Arts Center, 12000 S.W. 49th Ave. in Portland. The community college student winners will be honored at PCC Rock Creek’s Pioneer Room, Building 3, also from 2:30 to 4 p.m.