The members of Greenwood’s FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) have been working hard all year with their many community service projects. On March 19-22, they headed to Louisville where they participated in the state conference.

At the center of this meeting was the STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) events. Each STAR event required members to plan a project, organize either a display or portfolio and then present their project to a panel of judges.

Among those who completed a STAR event was senior Rosemary Jackson. Her event, Career Investigation, required her to job shadow several people from different careers. Her second place finish at the region guaranteed her a place in the state conference.

Juniors Madison Evans and Hope Frederick competed in Focus on Children. They hosted a “Mommy and Me Day” in which children and their moms spent a day together doing all sorts of different activities. The girls later took the information and presented it at the competition.

Junior Andrea Colburn competed in Recycle and Redesign for which she recycled chip bags into wallets and keychains.

Juniors Anne Claire Jones and Chandler Flynt competed in Advocacy. Their task was to demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and ability to actively identify a local, state, national, or global concern. They then researched the topic and formed an action plan to advocate for the issue in an effort to positively affect a policy. 

By doing this project, they were able to start the “It Can Wait” campaign in which they raised awareness about the dangers of texting and driving. The phrase, “It Can Wait” was used to spread the message that no text message is worth your life. Their goal was to spread for example, that the text message you received from your best friend “can wait.” 

The two girls got together and worked on the campaign for over 15 hours.

Their hard work evidently paid off as they placed third in the region competition. Therefore, allowing them to participate at the state conference.

Several Members of the club received recognition for their Power of One. Kolby Burtnett, Andrea Colburn, Madison Evans, Chandler Flynt, Hope Frederick, Anne-Claire Jones, Alex Rhodes, and Maddie Wells all received Power of One degrees.

Senior, Allie Moore got the opportunity to design an FCCLA logo for shirts at the state conference. 

She placed second in the state.

Seniors Rachel Douglas and Samantha Springs also competed at state and won first place in the region competition in Chapter in Review Display, a very difficult project to complete. 

Their task through this project was to present, in detail, the different community service projects that the FCCLA club had participated in and completed throughout the year. Their hard work to complete this project was evident.

They ended up getting third place in the state. 

When one of the club’s sponsors, Mrs. Jenkins, announced that they had won third place at the club’s meeting on Friday, March 31, the utter shock and joy on their faces was priceless. They had no idea that they had won and it was apparent by the shock on their faces that they didn’t expect to win, either.

Overall, the state meeting was a huge success. As a group, the club received Gold Honor Role, the state Community Service Award (Pennies for Patients), and were recognized for their contribution to the state Scholarship fund. 

Madison Douglas said to the entire club at their meeting, “If you get the opportunity to go to state sometime in the future, just go. It is so much fun and such a great experience.”

Allie Moore agreed. She said, “It is so much fun! I had such a great time this year… If anyone is an officer next year or if you’re in the club, you should definitely go because it is such a great experience worth participating in.”