On Sept. 17th, FCCLA ( Family Community Career Leaders of America ) attended a leadership workshop in Kearney Nebraska. They departed from BMS at 2:00pm the day before and started their long drive to Kearney. Junior Carsen Jump, on the road to officerhood, participated in this trip. “I really enjoyed the trip. I think its always super fun meeting new people, and meeting people with the same interest in this club from our chapter,” Jump says Once the chapter members got to the conference, they were split into two different groups. One group was the new member track and they got to learn about the organization that they were joining this year. The other group was the chapter leader track. “On the chapter leader track, I learned about competitive events, STAR events, and what makes FCCLA fun, competition wise. That’s what we focused on because that’s a big idea of FCCLA can be about,” Jump says STAR events are a big deal to FCCLA students and their time in the program. STAR or “ Students Taking Action with Recognition” are competitive events that shows a member's career and college readiness. Some students choose not to take part in STAR. But STAR can range from a variety of different things. From personal finance, to giving Ted Talks on education, STAR can be what gains a member a scholarship or even takes them to national FCCLA. “I'm pretty sure i’m set on doing promote and publicize because, last year, I did repurpose and redesign, and I feel like it's been a better time to communicate to people on what FCCLA is and how it is able to be a good motivator to be active in school,” explains Jump. Promote and publicize is when a student promotes and advertises the FCCLA chapter to their school and the community around them. Repurpose and redesign is when a member shows the importance of recycling to the community. Competitions isn’t the only thing the chapters do. FCCLA chapters grow into a family and face challenges together. They jump hurdles to the way to district FCCLA and even toward the end of the year.
LADIES IN RED. Carsen Jump 11th, Ashlee Hall 11th, Aubrey Blair 11th, Karli Knaub 10th, A’mari White 12th, Bailey Anaya 11th, Lexxus Trash 12th. Courtesy Photo
“My goal for the FCCLA chapter is to get as many people to join as possible, and to get as many people as we can to compete, and go to state, and hopefully make it to nationals. My biggest thing is interacting as much as we can with FCCLA this year,” comments Jump. FCCLA isn’t just a high school experience, FCCLA can help members in the future. Helping them choose what kind of career they want to go into, and the type of person they become by the end of high school. “I think FCCLA will help me in the future immediately by making me a better leader, and advocate for myself, along with inspiring others around me. Also, I hope I will be able to take it as a learning experience and never be upset about my choices,” Jump adds. FCCLA is a community of people who are shaping themselves to be the leaders of tomorrow. With goals of state FCCLA in mind, let's hope our FCCLA chapter can succeed and make it to nationals this year.