FRISCO, TX—In February, students in Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) qualified for state in Frisco ISD. They participated in a wide variation of events including Chapter Service Project Level 3, Entrepreneurship Level 3, and Interpersonal Communications Level 3.
The students are led by several accomplished advisers including Centennial’s Shirah Martinez, Emerson’s Katey De La Cruz and Rachel Oglesby, and Wakeland’s Laken Foster and Janna Whitehead.
According to the official FCCLA website, FCCLA is a national Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) for students in Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) education in both public and private schools. Their mission “is to promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education.”
The competition has a rigorous judging of the events with strict rubrics and multiple judges. To advance to state, the students had to first compete in the regional competition in Waco, TX. They had to compete against 20-30 teams in their categories to be among the top five teams.
“Most of the time, [the students] either choose an individual or group project, and they have to research an important topic to present to the judges. Each event is different, but they are usually told to make some kind of presentation, some type of visual display, and sometimes they have to do case studies in which they have to use their knowledge of family consumer science to answer the questions. They usually have two to three judges in the room, and they have a very strict rubric that they are judged on,” said Centennial FCCLA Advisor Sarah Martinez.
Additionally, this is a challenge for Centennial students because they need to be able to prepare for the event while simultaneously figuring out what the rubric requirements are.
“The… challenge is the complexity of the rubric. The rubric is both detailed and vague and each event is… different depending on which event they choose… I work with each team to see if they have questions, and we also host a Frisco ISD Mock Trial in which each FCCLA member [is judged by] judges from the community and the staff to give them feedback before the competition.”
As high school students have to balance their school activities with extracurricular activities and work, time management was a significant challenge for the FCCLA members preparing for the competition; Martinez created a solution.
“The way I overcome this is that I give them time about two hours every week and I give them space to work on their projects and ask questions,” she said.
Students have plenty of opportunities in a wide variety of events that they can participate in at the state competition.
“[The state competition is] always in Dallas. It basically encompasses many different events of family and consumer science. I think we have over 40 different events that the students can compete in. For example, there is Promote and Publicize FCCLA, Career and Development, Event Management, Entrepreneurship, such as baking, fashion, and other things. It’s so many things,” said Martinez.
The organization’s leaders focus on developing positive traits and relationships with the members.
“Personally for the club, the officers just wanted to focus on being kind, responsible, and compassionate to their peers that would… separate them from the rest…[to] make sure we’re doing things that are helpful,” said Martinez.
Senior FCCLA President Aarya Namburi became exposed to the club when he took one of the consumer science courses Martinez taught.
“The advisor was my freshman teacher for Hospitality and Tourism. I would see the club meetings, and I thought it was pretty cool, and I wanted to put my foot in the door to see what it was about,” said Namburi.
Namburi explained his contributions to FCCLA over his time as an officer and president. One of the main contributions was service projects that FCCLA participated in to help those with financial difficulties.
“In my time, we were able to boost membership [from] about 40 to 94 [students], so about [135]%…, and I was able to participate and organize as well as lead 12 service projects. One of my most favorite projects is creating birthday bags. We were able to give about 60 birthday bags to those who are not able to afford decorations as well as cake supplies, so that…everyone can celebrate their birthday. Another service project we do every year…[is] mak[ing] children’s books. When they are waiting in the hospital for their loved ones, they often get bored, so we give hundreds of children’s books to those who have loved ones in hospitals,” said Namburi.
Like other academic competitions in Centennial that require class prerequisites, FCCLA also has requirements.
“Anyone can join the club to compete, you have to be in Hospitality and Tourism class, a culinary class, you have to be in one of the survey classes that Ms. Martinez teaches, or the culinary arts classes that the culinary arts teacher teaches. To be a general member, you don’t have to do anything but pay your dues,” said Namburi.
Finally, FCCLA members get a rewarding experience competing that helps them socially and emotionally.
“You can expect to have a great time, meet a lot of new friends, as well as kind of have a family in school, everyone gets along with each other…well, and [they] make a bond. I didn’t know anyone in my sophomore year, but they made me feel welcome. To this day, many of the members are my best friends and I still keep in touch with the members that went to college. You can just expect to make lifelong friends and have great times helping the community with service projects,” said Namburi.
“The students get awarded for the hard work they have put in all year, if it’s not in first or second place or qualifying for nationals, they have… the experience. Having that experience will make them more positive and well-rounded human beings, making new friends, new experiences, and working together to create a memorable moment in their life. Although our students are competitive, my focus is not necessarily on the competitive aspect and more on how their characters are built. How they are caring, compassionate human beings and, of course, having lots of fun,” added Martinez.
