Muenster FCCLA brings home gold from national conference
Jul. 22—The Muenster Independent School District sent a student delegation to California earlier this month.
The Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Team went to the National Leadership Conference and competition in San Diego from June 29-July 3.
"Going to nationals was not only an exciting experience, but also an opportunity to broaden my horizons by allowing me to meet and learn from some of FCCLA's most notable leaders," said Erica Endres, who just is going into her senior year of high school and is the chapter president. "While in San Diego, I was able to attend various youth leadership workshops that were aimed toward educating and preparing teens, like me, for their futures."
At the event, the students competed in various Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) Competitive Events, leading to two of the teams placing in the top 10 in the nation, all receiving gold medals.
"Competing in star events is like putting a really complex school project together that goes into certain fields of what people could do when they are older," explained Madeleine Fisher, who is going into her senior year of high school. "After you finish the project, you present it just like you would do in class. The only difference is when you get graded, you could win scholarships and go on once in a lifetime trips such as San Diego."
For Chapter Service Project Display (Level 3 — 11th and 12th grade), sixth place were awarded to Endres, Fisher and Meadow Walterscheid.
"Because Texas FCCLA is one of the largest state delegations, making it to the national level is an accomplishment in itself," said Endres. "Personally, I considered it a great honor to have gotten the opportunity to compete among the best of the best in San Diego."
Fifth place was awarded to Anna Warren and Lillian Wimmer in Food Innovations (Level 1 — 8th grade and below).
"We chose food innovations, so we had to make a meal kit that was under a certain amount of sodium and could be prepared under a certain amount of time," explained Wimmer, who is going into her freshman year of high school. "We made packaging and put everything that the rubric called for in our speech and on the board. Then, we had to present everything to the judges in under 10 minutes."
More than 7,000 student members, advisers, and guests gathered for listening to inspiring speakers, attending youth workshops, competing on the national level and networking with other youth leaders.
"It was so much fun to go see and meet new people from all over," said Warren. "I wanted to get involved because it would be a good experience and would help me in the future with meeting new people and working together. It is a great experience with meeting people, partnership, fun and helping with colleges in the future."
FCCLA is a national student organization with over 199,000 members nationwide, that helps students become leaders and address important personal, family, work and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education.
"Over the past four years, my involvement in FCCLA has brought me to realize the importance of several real world skills such as leadership and responsibility," said Endres. "As a result, I feel much more prepared for my future endeavors."
