Warren County High School’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Club took Florida by storm this month, bringing back seven gold medals from the 2012 National Leadership Conference in Orlando.
“The girls did a tremendous job,” said Ann Terry, who is the FCCLA advisor at the school, along with Suzanne Prater. “I’m proud of each and every one of them. We took seven members and brought back seven gold medals.”
Club members Hunter Martin, Elizabeth Whitaker, Cheyenne Clark, Shawna Cantrell, Mary Chamberlin, Olivia Gallagher and Patricia Winkler attended with their advisors and CTE director Tracey Risingner.
This year’s student-originated theme for the annual national meeting was “#realitycheck.” Throughout the five-day convention, participants examined and discussed several critical issues, including family, school and community violence prevention, physical as well as financial fitness, future career exploration, and countless community service projects.
A number of relevant youth issues, such as the changing roles of men and women in the home and workplace, leadership, and obesity prevention were also explored at the meeting through presentations, workshops, and youth sessions.
Over 3,600 students competed in STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) events, which are competitive events that build proficiency and achievement in leadership and job-related skills.
The students from Warren County entered the following STAR events and were presented gold medals:
• Martin and Whitaker competed in Chapter Service Project Display with a local project called “Holiday Mail for Heroes.” The event collected 3,368 cards that were sent to military personnel for the holidays.
• Clark competed with in Chapter Service Project Manual for the project Traveling Pants. During the last Traveling Pants, club members collected 1,500 pairs of pants and distributed them at schools and in the community.
• Cantrell, Chamberlin and Gallagher competed in Focus on Children with their project Cans for Kids. Members collected hundreds of nonperishable food items to send home with elementary school children, with the remaining items donated to Warren County Food Bank.
• Patricia Winkler competed in Illustrated Talk with her presentation on Teaching Children Through Music. Locally, she went to elementary schools and offered children different techniques on memorization with music.
In order to obtain a gold medal, presenters must score between 90 to 100 points in the competition.
Terry says the club did the work at competition, but credit must be given to supporters.
“We would like to thank all of the schools, the American Red Cross, and the people in the community for their help in making the community projects a success,” said Terry. “The students would not have been able to win a gold medal without you.”
The club also had unwavering financial support from Doug Milner of Dr Pepper Bottling Company, Paul Moore of Moore Properties, Middle Tennessee Natural Gas with its Hometown Help program, and Morris Hobbs of Morris’ Auto Body.
FCCLA describes itself as a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work and societal issues through family and consumer science education.
The students from Warren County were among more than 6,800 members, advisors, alumni and guests from across the nation in attendance at the national conference.