STAR Events

Just as there are many activities that you can enjoy in other clubs, FCCLA offers STAR Events to its members. STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events are competitive events in which members are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills, and career preparation. Members must follow specific guidelines for their event and present a speech along with a board, portfolio, or binder. It takes weeks of preparation for the students to prepare themselves to present. All members must compete at the regional level and from there they can receive gold, silver or bronze. The top winners will advance to state. Here at state, the students give the same speech and presentation to judges and from there they may advance to participate at the national level. FCCLA members compete in STAR Events from all over the country. There are over 20 categories that our members can compete in. Nationals are going to be held in Nashville, Tennessee on July 7-11 2013. This is an amazing experience for young members to meet others from all across the country and it's always fun to meet new people. Many of the kids today have put in a lot of hard work into their projects and all of our STAR Events participants here in Missouri will find out tomorrow morning whether or not they will get the opportunity to travel to Nashville to compete. Contributed by Samantha Pierce, 2013 Media Team Member

National Outreach Project: Share Our Strength

Every year FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) adopts a National Outreach Project that members can benefit. Our mission statement for the National Outreach Projects is: “to promote and benefit a partner organization by volunteering and/or fundraising and donating funds while gaining FCCLA exposure to business and industries.” This year, our project was Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry. More than 16 million children live in a household where it is an everyday struggle to put food on the table. This problem causes children to not be the very best that they can be, and that is a threat to America's future. This problem is highly overlooked, and part of being in FCCLA is looking at what most would overlook and caring enough to make a difference, even if it is a little one, it is still a difference.

My chapter has tried very hard to help aid in this project, and in my opinion, we have made a difference for our community. We held a canned food drive at school. If a student brought in a can of food, they could wear their hat for free all day long, or they had to donate a dollar to wear the hat.

Have you ever heard of a weekend backpack program? Well, it is where backpacks are packed full of food that will last an entire weekend and is given out to children whose families need the extra help. Not only is food put inside the backpacks, but a little note that reads something along the lines of, "Have a good weekend! You're great!" I and other FCCLA members from multiple chapters in Region 10 made notes like that to send to the Ozark Food Harvest where the backpacks are assembled. We worked very hard to help and try to make a difference for some of these children.

Five of Missouri's FCCLA chapters have managed to raise $1,800.00 for Share Our Strength. This was all made possible through service learning, education, awareness, and fundraising. It is not easy trying to raise funds for projects like this these days, people are holding onto their money more tightly, and no one can truly blame them, but FCCLA has persevered. By 2015, the national goal is to ensure that no kid goes hungry, you might say that is a hefty goal to achieve, but we say, “Mission Possible”. 

Contributed by Jessica McFarland, 2013 Media Team Member

“Real Talk!” with Adolph Brown, III

Adolph Brown, III, the master educator, author, service leadership consultant, and character education leader came to the FCCLA State Leadership Conference 2013: Mission Possible with one purpose in mind, to talk to us straight about the problems we face.

In an interview before the Opening session, Dr. Brown said that “FCCLA was his favorite national student led organization.” Dr. Brown said he wasn’t just saying this because he was here, but that “FCCLA is [his] favorite because it focuses on the family” and him being a father of 7, “family is everything.”

When asked what is the big take-away students should gain from his talk, Dr. Brown said it was “that leadership starts with personal growth. You don’t have to be the president to be a leader. You don’t need a title to lead.” We can all agree that Dr. Brown talked to us without cutting corners or smoothing anything over. With this Real Talk we can move forward to lead in our families and our communities. https://www.facebook.com/docspeaks?fref=ts Real Talk with Dr. Adolph Brown on Facebook

Contributed by Aric Dale Gooch, 2013 Media Team Member

Parents of FCCLA

Running for an office in FCCLA is a very big responsibility. You must write a speech first and then present your speech in front of a group of voting delegates. For many people this is very nerve-racking. A study has shown that public speaking is the number one fear in America. There is a dinner held the first night at the State Leadership Conference for all state and national candidates, as well as the outgoing state executive council. Invited to this meeting are any parents, friends, or special guests of the current state council as well as the state and national candidates.

I was fortunate enough to attend this meeting and I was able to meet with two moms that attended this special dinner. The first parent I met was Mrs. Palmer. Rachel Palmer is her daughter and she is currently serving on the state executive council as the Vice President of Public Relations. Mrs. Palmer told me that Rachel has grown as a person and that she is very proud of her daughter. She said that FCCLA has made Rachel the person that she is today and that she would consider Rachel a good influence to others. She said that she loves to come and watch Rachel perform and speak on stage. She said that FCCLA has such a positive influence on young teens and said that Rachel has improved her public speaking skills tremendously.

The second parent that I was able to interview was Mrs. Kara Rankles. Her daughter is running as a national candidate. She said that the state officers always do a wonderful job with speaking at the meetings and in front of hundreds of people. She also talked about the Japanese Exchange Program that her daughter was able to participate in last year. The Japanese Exchange Program is an opportunity where an FCCLA member gets to travel on an all expense paid trip to Japan for four to six weeks as an exchange student. Participants live with a Japanese host family and experience all the things that their culture has to offer. Mrs. Rankles said that her daughter's leadership skills have improved due to FCCLA. Her daughter has held workshops on this program so that she can tell others about her great experiences in hopes that others will get involved. Mrs. Rankles also said that she enjoys attending the conferences so that she can see her daughter in action.

Parents of FCCLA members do not always get recognized because they are behind the scenes most of the time, but they play a big role in the students you see on stage in their red jackets. It was nice to be able to hear from someone that was not in FCCLA in school. Everyone always gives our organization such good feedback. FCCLA holds so many amazing opportunities and the parents of the members that I talked to tonight are taking every opportunity that they can get.

Contributed by Samantha Pierce, 2013 Media Team Member

Leaders to Watch

This year’s Missouri FCCLA has introduced a new program for up and coming leaders and members who have had leadership positions in the past. The program was adopted from the national level and has been brought to the state level. Missouri State President, Caleb Hearon says that the qualities that makeup a suitable leader to watch would be professionalism and knowing when to lead and knowing when to step down. He says, “Even if you are national president or state president, or even just a chapter president, sometimes it isn’t your time to shine. Sometimes it’s someone else’s time to shine…you have to know how to follow to be a good leader.”

Three high school members and three middle school members will be honored with the title of Leader to Watch. FCCLA members can vote on three students in which they would like to be selected. Hearon encourages members to apply for the program again next year and he says this is one of the additions that has made this year’s State Leadership Conference the best one yet. Winners will be recognized at the Closing Session on Tuesday.

Contributed by Alyssa Glasgow, Media Team Member