Last Thursday, the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America national competition qualifiers were announced. Several students from the Mill qualified for the national competition and they will compete this summer in Nashville, Tenn.

The FCCLA national competition is an opportunity for students to develop leadership skills, network with student leaders across the nation, and participate in competitive events. The top two winners from each state who competed in Students Taking Action with Recognition Events move on to nationals. STAR Events are competitive events in which members are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills, and career preparation.

In order to qualify for nationals, students must first go through regionals. “Only students who have qualified at the regional and then state level can compete at nationals, but any dues-paying member can begin at region competition,” FCCLA teacher Hope Via said. The students who qualified to go to nationals can benefit from this experience in many ways through developing leadership, public speaking, time management, problem solving and networking skills.

To work their way up to this point, students put in hours and hours of work leading up to the competition. “In order to prepare for the competition, the students have a rubric and event description to work off of,” Via said. It depends on the event as to what they have to do.  Students must show me their work product at particular points along the way. Some events require three previous presentations, as well.” Via said.

FCCLA holds the competition every year, and this year Starr’s Mill had eight students compete at State Leadership and three advanced to the national level competition. The three students who qualified this year were freshmen Abby Gayda and Olivia Herrmann, and sophomore Annslee Tokar. Annslee Tokar will be the only one attending the nationals.

“I liked that we had several new students compete and that everyone made it from the region competition to state level competition,” Via said.