With emphasis on showcasing students’ skills in various fields such as Fashion Construction and Entrepreneurship, 35 members attended the FCCLA State Leadership Conference held in Reno, Nevada last week. Attendees participated in workshops and listened to lectures led by industry experts and professionals.
“Their projects are tied to their program areas, so for example we took kids that did projects like entrepreneurship, interior design, fashion design, and career investigation, which are related to the programs we have here at school.” FCCLA Adviser Levi Harbeson said. “Students worked independently and they then presented where judges judged their proficiency in a number of different skills.”
Despite the uncertainty of the results, competitors placed top across multiple events with both top placements and national qualifiers in events such as Culinary Arts, Entrepreneurship, Fashion Design Fashion Construction, Interior Design, and Repurpose and Redesign.
“I competed in fashion design level three, and for me, the process was very difficult because fashion design is something usually seniors do because of the pattern drafting class they take,” junior Janna Boudfard said. “I placed first overall in my category. I did not expect that at all. I genuinely thought I would get a lot lower, and I was very surprised overall.”
Having attended conferences in previous years, board members took the responsibility of verifying the progress and success of all members.
“Being a part of the board at state, you kind of had to ensure people knew what they were doing and help guide them in the steps of presenting, where to enter, or anything related to FCCLA,” Quiroz said. “Going to state last year definitely helped a lot in preparing members, especially with being a newcomer. You’re scared not knowing what to do, having that person to rely on and ask questions was a very important thing to be a part of.”
During the competitions, scores were determined subjectively by judges who interpreted the provided rubric. The scoring system, based on the judge’s rubric, awarded three types of medals: bronze, silver, and gold, with the top two placements advancing to nationals.
“Their projects this year, technically were extremely well put together, so the interior design project all of them had the components they needed, and with the sewing projects, they were near flawless across the board.” Harbeson said, “This year across the board silver seemed to be the normal score, and the highest scores were usually silver which is a little disappointing because from my perspective as a teacher knowing the student’s work, I know we should´ve earned golds, but in the end, a majority qualified for nationals so it doesn’t really matter.”
Besides competing in their areas, members were able to participate in workshops, attend a dance, and play a few games of bowling.
“The entire trip was very fun,” junior Henry Lewis said. “All of FCCLA was very welcoming, it’s a very supportive community, and there were a lot of lectures but there was also a lot of fun.”
Having dedicated considerable time to the project throughout the year in club meetings, senior Alyssa Hong experienced the competition process for the first time.
“I’ve been working for a very long time on this project and finally getting to present and talk about the creation of it was pretty fun,” senior Alyssa Hong said. “I placed gold in my event. I expected to do pretty well because I was pretty confident in my sewing, but I didn’t know exactly where I would fit, I was just there to be there, I was just happy I got gold.”
