Four Students from the Plainview FCCLA Chapter recently attended the Nebraska Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America Fall Leadership Workshop in Kearney.
This annual event was held on Monday, September 19, 2022, with nearly 600 student members, chapter advisers, and guests from over 70 chapters statewide attending the conference. Attending from Plainview were Shayla Jacobsen, Averi Waldow, Weston Hoffman, Kaydance Maertins and Adviser Ronita Jacobsen.
The Nebraska FCCLA state theme for this year is ‘Aspire to Inspire,’ which encourages members to do their best to inspire others through their actions, involvement, and personal development obtained through their FCCLA experiences. Students at the event heard from members of the Nebraska FCCLA State Officer Team, the State Peer Officer Teams, and Mike Donahue, inspirational speaker and author of Value Up.
Donahue shared a keynote message of perseverance and acceptance as he challenged participants to recognize their own value as they continued to seek positive experiences both in and out of FCCLA. He encouraged them to always reach for the top shelf and surround themselves with the people that would continuously support and challenge them to make their dreams reality.
Abby Fiske and Ally Sedlacek, both former state officers, led the New Member track. FCCLA competitive events, recognition opportunities, and National Programs sessions focused on providing new members a solid foundation on which to build their FCCLA experiences. In the Chapter Leader track, officer training sessions were facilitated by the 2022-2023 Nebraska State Officers for chapter leaders to gain more knowledge about their chapter officer positions.
Sessions in the Chapter Leader Track featured collaborative discussions about awards and recognition, membership, competitive events, building a program of work, and public relations, along with the chance for members to share ideas and network with others. All of the Plainview members participated in the Chapter Leader track.
In the afternoon, participants had the opportunity to attend various breakout sessions presented by partner organizations. Nebraska FCCLA was excited to include content from Addressing Human Trafficking, Harvest of the Month & Other Farm to School Opportunities in Nebraska, and Everyone Can Do Something: Engaging with Vulnerable Populations in the Community to provide more information about how students can address human trafficking, connecting schools with locally grown foods, and how to make a positive impact, respectively.
The State Officers also presented additional sessions on Alumni and Associates, what CTE is, opportunities in FCCLA, and how to be a better leader.
To end the day, all Plainview members attended the FCCLA Jeopardy session. Here members from each school worked as a team to test their FCCLA knowledge and learn more about the resources available to them.
At the end of the final round, the Plainview Chapter was found to be the winner and received prizes.
New member Kaydance found the conference a great way to learn more about FCCLA and its programs. “The icebreakers and energizers they had between session were really fun and a great way to meet people from around the state,” she said. Shayla Jacobsen found her Chapter Leader sessions helpful. She stated that, “My President session was filled with ideas and activities on how to engage chapter members and encourage them to be a part of activities.”
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps students become leaders and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education. With over 199,000 members nationwide and nearly 3,000 members in over 100 chapters in Nebraska, FCCLA is the only career and technical in-school student organization with a central focus on careers that support families. Participation in FCCLA programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers, and communities. Nebraska FCCLA is supported through the Nebraska Center for Student Leadership and Extended Learning at the Nebraska Department of Education. For more information about FCCLA, please visit www.nebraskafccla.org.
