FCCLA competes at nationals

Members of FCCLA pose together during their trip to the national convention. Photo courtesy Aimee Marasco.

On November 15-16, members of FCCLA attended the Fall National Conference in Dallas, Texas.

According to fcclainc.org, FCCLA stands for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and hopes To promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education. Focusing on the multiple roles of a family member, wage earner, and community leader, members develop skills for life through character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical knowledge, and career preparation.”

Aimee Marasco is the FCS teacher at the high school as well as the adviser of the club. She started the school’s chapter when she started teaching the high school in 2014.

“I started advising in 2007 in Missouri when I started teaching. I had learned about it while in college and had helped judge at regional competition. Other advisers had mentored me and helped me prepare to have my own chapter,” said Marasco.

Sophomore Serena Iske was one of the members who attended the conference this past month. She joined the club in her freshman year because she thought that it would be interesting.

“We do silver cord opportunities as well as competing in events at district, state, and nationals for textiles classes,” said Iske.

Iske competed in the fashion sketch event at this year’s national conference. Marasco explained that members have the option to attend events, and this year’s contest had a lot of new events that members have never competed in.

On top of the competition, there are also a lot of other opportunities within the conference.

“Students also had workshops on various topics from vaping, driving safety, signs of bad relationships, and professional dress. We enjoyed two awesome guest speakers who shared their stories of living life to the fullest and being kind. We also listened to the National Officers share their stories of how they got involved in FCCLA and became officers,” said Marasco.

Out of the six students who attended, junior Sophie Haage received third in the Early Childhood Knowledge Online Test and Iske received first in Fashion Sketch level two competition.

If any students are interested in joining the club and participating in upcoming events, they can email Marasco or attend a meeting on the first Tuesday of each month in room N168 at 7:30 a.m.