Chapter Spotlight: La Monte FCCLA

Submitted by Emily Blackburn, Vice President of State Programs.  Thanks, Emily!

As you know summer has come to an end and the hallways are full again. The La Monte FCCLA is just getting started. To get new members the FCCLA chapter displayed a bulletin board in the hallway about FCCLA, had an FCCLA member get interviewed about what FCCLA is for the daily announcements, showed a short membership video to all FACS classes, and had a fun ice cream party for all the new members after the first meeting. The next week they had a pizza and programs night to discuss everything that they are doing this year including new ideas, more membership, and community service choices. They have some great ideas on how to “Roll out the Red Carpet of Leadership” such as the annual Blood drive next week where everyone can be a hero!

 

Missouri FCCLA VIP: Angela Rash

This week's Missouri FCCLA Advisor VIP is Angela Rash, from Sikeston High School.  Here's a little about her:

Angela Rash is in her 5th year of teaching in the Sikeston Public School District, one year at the Junior High, four years at the Sikeston Career and Technology Center. She received this job during her first week as a Block 4 student teacher and has been there since.  She states "This will be only my second year ACTIVELY advising FCCLA. I tried one year previously but was restricted by a multitude of different complications. Last year, we dove in feet first to many activities. We were small in numbers but passionately determined!"

One of the projects she is most proud of is the Sikeston FCCLA chapter's Domestic Violence Awareness campaign, The Clothesline Project, which made a great impact throughout the school and community. What made Angela most proud of this project was the sincerity of the members that participated.  She states that they were so whole-heartedly committed to the cause that it was amazing to watch. One of the chapter members was a victim of domestic violence, so that made the project even more meaningful.


Angela says "To ask me what I am most proud of is so difficult because it's not just a thing, it's the feeling of pride and accomplishment when I see my members succeed. I love watching the capabilities be revealed of what students can be through FCCLA, instead of what they feel they are currently. My officers this year are go-getters. They are excited about what we are doing and are bring new ideas to the table. I look forward to all that they have planned!"

Angela, your enthusiasm is one of the reasons you were nominated for this week's Advisor VIP award!  Congratulations! 

Shop to Raise Money for Children's Miracle Network

Missouri FCCLA has approved a fundraiser to raise money for FCCLA’s National Outreach Project, Children’s Miracle Network.


During the Access FCCLA Fall Leadership Conference, FCCLA bracelets ($15) and key rings ($7) will be sold with the proceeds going to CMN. Below are photos of just a few of the designs - items will be sold in the FCCLA Store during the conference. 
 
Be sure to shop early for the best selection!  Thank you to the talented jewelry designer (and her mom) who have volunteered to be part of this effort.  We appreciate you!
 

 

 

Adviser Essentials Webinar Series

I'm so excited to see that FCCLA has now begun an Adviser Essentials Webinar Series!  These events take place at 3:00 p.m. Eastern (2:00 p.m. Central time), which means most Missouri teachers/advisors are still in class.  But, the good news is that sessions will be archived and available for viewing for 30 days after the presentation. 

I encourage chapter advisors and family and consumer sciences pre-service teachers to view these free webinars to get a better understanding of topics impacting FCCLA.  Webinars have been scheduled as follows:

• September 29, 2010 - Membership Development
• December 1, 2010 - Program of Work
• February 16, 2011 - Fundraising
• April 27, 2011 - Using Technology

I hope you many of you can participate, but if you're interested, be sure to register early...registration is limited to the first 150 participants per session. 

For more info, visit the Chapter Adviser section of the national FCCLA website. 

Chapter Spotlight: Lathrop FCCLA

This post was submitted by Shelby Jennings, State Vice President of Elections.  Thanks, Shelby!

Our Lathrop High School FCCLA chapter has been working on trying to get new ideas for the national programs and making sure we accomplish one national FCCLA program a month. We decided that Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety (FACTS) would be a good program to begin working on.

Lathrop FCCLA is a very reliable group that gets the job done, and we wanted to do something new this year and bring excitement to the table.  In past years we have done car seat belt safety checks to see who has been “buckled up” and who has not. The students receive Smarties candy if they are buckled up and if they aren’t they receive black licorice. We hope to teach our peers about traffic safety and make sure everyone is aware of the dangers from distracted driving, too. 

We are working on finding more fun and enjoyable activities this year for the students that allow the entire student body to participate.  We hope your chapter is doing the same.  Good luck with your chapter projects!

How Do I Affiliate My Chapter?

This information is cross posted to the Missouri FCS List Serv,  and the FCS NEWS (which will be published soon). If you get an e-mail from the national organization instructing you to affiliate online, please disregard that information.


How Do I Affiliate My Chapter?

While we don’t intentionally mean to cause confusion, there may be confusion when it comes to how to affiliation your Missouri FCCLA chapter. The big question is “Why does Missouri FCCLA not utilize the national FCCLA online affiliation system?”

While the national online affiliation system is still “working out the kinks” Missouri FCCLA has chosen to continue indirect affiliation, sent to the state instead of the national headquarters. When the process becomes smoother, and when Missouri is able to customize the system to include collection of regional dues, Missouri may consider switching to the online affiliation system. Until then, Missouri FCCLA requires chapters to affiliate using the Missouri FCCLA Affiliation form and Member Roster. Both of these files, as well as the instructions, are found online at www.mofccla.org.

This year, we at the state office are required to submit electronic rosters to the national office. Therefore, we must require them from chapters. Chapters will need to complete the Missouri Affiliation form (it is a PDF fill-in form) and the Member Roster Form (an Excel spreadsheet) and e-mail those to Jamie Iler (Jamie.iler@dese.mo.gov). Chapters should then print a copy to mail with payment to the state office. Should you run into any problems completing your forms electronically, please contact Jamie Iler or Christine Hollingsworth at the state office for assistance.

Missouri FCCLA VIP - Sue Witte

Each week, Missouri FCCLA will recognize one chapter advisor for their contributions to our organization.  They are our VIPs!  This week's Missouri FCCLA Advisor VIP is Sue Witte from Morgan County R-I High School (Stover). Here's what her nominator wrote:

"Sue Witte has been busy teaching FACS and advising FCCLA for 20 years. She is a strong leader with one of the largest chapters in Region 12. She has had state officers (including her daughter) and continuously has regional officers. Sue works very hard at developing her curriculum and serves as a member of the Teacher Leader Cadre to assist and learn more about the latest news from DESE such as personal plans of study, course sequencing, and TSAs. She is dependable and always willing to lend a hand to fellow teachers whether they are new or experienced. The area of fashion is her passion and you can sometimes hear her say that she still isn’t sure what she wants to be!" 

Congratulations Sue, you're a Missouri FCCLA VIP! 

We appreciate you and thanks for being such a great role model for your students and your colleagues.

Chapter Spotlight - Bolivar FCCLA

 Cara Gooch, Missouri FCCLA State President, submitted this Chapter Spotlight post sharing how her chapter started the year off with their membership activity.  Thanks Cara!

Summer has just ended and it is time for school to start. While everyone was busy buying school supplies the Bolivar FCCLA Officers were planning a membership kick-off party. We wanted to help Missouri reach its goal of raising membership by five percent. To do so we planned a membership drive to recruit new members. The day before the kick-off we passed out Smarties to the student body. Attached was a piece of paper that said, “Be a Smartie and Join FCCLA! August 24 at 3:15 in Mrs. Glasgow’s Room”.

When the students met in Mrs. Glasgow’s room after school they were treated to Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and punch. Mrs. Glasgow talked about upcoming events and how to start a project for the year. Next Bolivar’s President, Ally Francka, introduced the chapter officers and split the students into teams. To get them up and working together we planned activities to challenge the students. The first activity was to make a chair out of masking tape and newspapers. After five minutes our Vice President of Public Relations, Amber Allard, sat on every chair. Teams were judged on creativity and durability. Next we moved into the gym and the students did a shoe race and a three-legged race.

The students were then handed an oreo cookie. They had one minute to move the cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands. Our last activity was a scooter race around the gym. The winning team received their FCCLA chapter shirt for free.

Last we answered questions about FCCLA and talked to the students about projects that we do throughout the year. By having the kick-off we saw more students interested in FCCLA and wanting to participate in projects. It is a perfect time to give students information about FCCLA and answer any questions. Good Luck to the Bolivar Chapter and thanks for helping Missouri reach its goal.

Chapter Spotlight: Ste. Genevieve FCCLA

This post submitted by Brittney Stokes, National Officer Candidate. 

Ste. Genevieve High School FCCLA has many different activities planned for members and our community. Here are some of our activites we have planned for this year:

• The chapter has decided to partner with Alex's Lemonade Stand and work to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer. 
• We sponsor a food drive near Thanksgiving and our chapter makes dinner kits which we give to needy families.
• Around Christmas, our chapter adopts a family.  Members use the money we raise during chapter meetings to purchase presents for them.
• In the spring, we host a traffic safety project.  Last year we sponsored a seatbelt convincer, seat belt checks, an assembly and speaker, and other fun activities.  This year, we're continuing to work on improving awareness of this issue in our community.

This year, our chapter has almost doubled in membership, and these activities have helped us promote FCCLA in our school.  We hope to continue to keep growing and making more people aware of the incredible opportunities available in FCCLA!  Good luck to each of your chapters as you work toward many of the same goals. 

Don't Break the Piggy Bank Yet!

You have a great idea for integrating technology in your classroom....but your classroom budget is already spent.  Your chapter officers have super ideas for involving chapter members in leadership and service projects...but members just paid dues, and there isn't much extra right now.  Guess those great ideas just have to wait, right?  Not necessarily - have you looked at all your funding options?  I'm not talking about fundraising campaigns - or breaking your piggy bank!

On the blog Free Technology for Teachers, Richard Byrne (who you can also follow on Twitter @rmbyrne) posted Ten Ways to Get Free Money and Classroom Supplies.  Included in his list are links to the Target Field Trip grants, Donors Choose, and Classwish.  We could also add to the list Sonic's Limeades for Learning (which partners with Donors Choose).  Don't forget local service organizations clubs or sororities, booster clubs, PTA groups, or local philanthropists.  They might be willing to assist with projects that benefit the local community.

If your idea involves youth/traffic safety, be sure to also check out resources from the National Organizations for Youth Safety as they partner with organizations to provide grant opportunities such as during National Youth Traffic Safety Month.  Many FCCLA projects are also good service-learning opportunities.  The National Service-Learning Partnership lists many grant opportunities.  The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) provides a good list of grants and opportunities on their "Resources-Grants and Awards" page.

All of this searching for funding does take time, so consider having FCCLA committee members do some of the leg work, if appropriate.  Also be sure to expand your network by subscribing to e-mail alerts, RSS feeds, or following funding organizations on Twitter. 

Do you have other resources that you can share on this topic?  Have you received grant funds from any of the resources listed here? Please add your comments to this post - we'd love to hear how you have been supplementing your budget through funding opportunities.