The Rockbridge County Chapter of Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America traveled to Virginia Beach with 23 students for the Virginia State Conference April 3 through 7. Chapter advisors Amanda Grimm, Corey Wallace, and McKenzey Robbinson assisted their FCCLA students in participating and learning many valuable leadership skills.
FCCLA, Family Career Community Leaders of America, is available to students who are in a Family and Consumer Science highschool class. This program offers leadership development programs and conferences, along with career explorations to actively engage members in their community.
Nutrition and Wellness teacher Amanda Grimm has been a part of FCCLA for eight years, and continually shows her involvement with the program here at the high school. This is the first state conference that our chapter has attended in Virginia beach, and all members were thrilled with the chance to attend.
Ms.Grimm describes the conference as “…a culmination of our year’s work. It gives chapter members the opportunity to grow even further as leaders within our organization and display their skills. It’s also a great networking platform for students and advisers alike”
At these larger events, FCCLA members get the chance to put the skills and lessons that they learn in the classroom and local community, to use on a larger and more impactful level. This is the perfect opportunity for members to get experience speaking and interacting with new people in the organization that they might otherwise never have the chance to.
Conferences have many different workshops, events, and presentations to choose from that engage and educate students on various leadership roles. Senior Mattie Robinson describes her favorite part of the FCCLA state conference.,
“…the opening ceremony that happens Friday afternoon. It’s just a lot of fun watching people on stage act out their acts that they have been rehearsing and it brings the positive vibes throughout the whole conference”.
FCCLA offers a productive and great atmosphere for students to grow in, and this is something that many students cherish, “most definitely miss the community FCCLA brings. Everyone is always so positive and nice to one another and it just brings a smile to people’s faces when they need it”.
Freshmen Emmalee Grimm and Phoebe Jackson, junior Riley McDaniel, and seniors Mattie Robinson and Brooke Eichelberger all qualified to compete on the national level. FCCLA hopes to attend the national conference this summer in Orlando, Florida, to allow these students to nationally participate in a conference.
FCCLA is now going to work toward raising funds in order to take the students who qualified to the national conference. In addition, they are planning their last meeting of the year. The goal of this last meeting is to appreciate and commemorate members who competed in conference competitions, as well as recognize their various achievements.
For more information about the state conference and FCCLA in general, students can contact any of the advisors here at the highschool.
