LPS students earn state honors at FCCLA convention

Lincoln Public Schools students and staff earned significant honors during this spring’s Nebraska Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) State Leadership Conference.
 
Students from more than 90 Nebraska schools came to Lincoln for the annual convention. They participated in competitive events, leadership seminars and networking opportunities during the three-day conference.
 
FCCLA is a national organization that helps students learn more about career and technical education careers, particularly in family and consumer sciences (FCS) fields. More than 2,600 students are members of Nebraska FCCLA chapters.
 
Southwest High School earned a Gold Chapter Award during the state convention. FCCLA chapters could receive bronze, silver or gold awards for their work during the school year.

 
Students had to complete at least three projects in membership, leadership, FCCLA promotion and competitive events categories to earn gold-level recognition. There were five types of project possibilities in each category. They also had to complete an application form detailing the chapter’s accomplishments.
 
McKenzie Geier and Sarah Morrow are co-advisors of Southwest’s chapter. Morrow said seeing the Silver Hawks capture the gold-level honor was exciting. Nine students are members of the school’s 2023-24 chapter.
 
“We are always very happy to earn a Gold Chapter Award,” Morrow said. “We have our student awards officer complete our application for the award because this is a student-led organization. They take pride in sharing their achievements and the good they’re doing in FCCLA.”

 
Geier and North Star High School teacher Lily Hershey were both recognized for their leadership skills. Geier received an Advisor Service Recognition Award for helping guide Southwest’s chapter for five years. Hershey was recognized as a new chapter advisor.
 
Four Southwest students earned major awards in the STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) program. STAR is FCCLA’s premier competitive events program and includes a wide array of contests.

 
STAR events are divided into Level I (grades 6-8), Level II (grades 9-10) and Level 3 (grades 11-12). Students could earn a gold medal for scoring 90-100 points in their event and a silver medal for tallying 70-89.99 points.
 
State champions and runners-up automatically qualified to represent Nebraska at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference. The national event will take place June 29-July 3 in Seattle.
 
Southwest students Jada Frank and Jack McCormick finished in first place in the chapter service project display and portfolio (Level 3) contest. The Silver Hawks earned a gold medal for their work. They had to develop and implement an in-depth service project that included FCS content and skills. Judges evaluated projects that made “a worthwhile contribution to families, schools and communities.”

 
Aubrey Bailey and Belle Zaruba became the second Southwest team to qualify for nationals. They earned second place in the promote and publicize FCCLA (Level 3) contest. They collected a silver medal for using communication skills and techniques to inform their school and community about FCCLA. They raised awareness about the importance of FCCLA and how FCS classes benefit the entire community.

 
LPS students attended many educational breakout sessions at the state convention. They visited with representatives from more than 20 colleges and organizations during a career fair, and they participated in service projects at Food Bank of Lincoln and Lincoln Children’s Museum.

 
LPS offers many FCS classes throughout the school district. Click here to learn more about the various programs and how to become involved in FCCLA chapters.

The following are results of LPS medal-winning entries:

Chapter Service Project Display – Level 3: Jada Frank and Jack McCormick (Lincoln Southwest) – 1st place, national qualifiers
 
Promote and Publicize FCCLA Contest – Level 3: Belle Zaruba and Aubrey Bailey (Lincoln Southwest) – 2nd place, national qualifiers
 
Advisor Service Recognition Award – Five Years: McKenzie Geier (Lincoln Southwest)
 
New Chapter Advisor Recognition: Lily Hershey (Lincoln North Star)

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