Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) held its first-ever virtual conference since the organization was founded in 1945. Instead of gathering in-person in Washington, D.C. as planned, students logged on to an online platform that blended virtual reality and gamification technology to transform FCCLA’s National Leadership Conference into a dynamic virtual experience. In transitioning to an online conference, keynote speakers, breakout sessions, EXPO, Competitive Events, networking opportunities and more shifted to a virtual platform to continue to provide the students with the Ultimate Leadership Experience they anxiously anticipate all year.
This year’s conference was originally scheduled for the first week of July, but as the COVID-19 pandemic grew, the conference was moved to a virtual platform. FCCLA members who had placed 1st or 2nd at their state conferences were qualified to compete nationally. Competitors had to create a public URL that was submitted to National FCCLA in May and then they were required to add their projects along with each event’s required components by June 7th. In the next two weeks all projects were scored and the results were released via the web on July 9th.
Devine High School had two teams advance to the National Leadership Conference to compete with their projects and both teams earned gold medals.
Juniors Analea Brooks, Jessenia Phillipi and Andrea Sanchez competed in Public Policy Advocacy, Level 3. Their project concentrated on advocating for vape detectors in the high school bathrooms which were installed over the Christmas break. Their project “No JUUL in School” began in September and reached over 13,000 people warning them of the dangers of JUUL pods and vaping. This was all of the members’ first year to compete in FCCLA. They did an exceptional job on their project and placed 5th in the nation in their event!
Sophomores Kelli Geyer and Karma Herring competed in National Programs in Action, Level 2. Their project “Driving While InTEXTicated” was focused on helping teens and adults to realize that distracted driving was a deadly problem. The team began work on their project in September and reached over 13,000 people, as well. Geyer and Herring competed in FCCLA last year and earned a trip to Anaheim, California, to compete at the 2019 National Leadership Conference where they earned a gold medal.
The team’s hard work paid off again this year with another gold and the distinction of placing 4th in the nation in their event!
At this point no one knows what the 2020- 2021 school year will hold, but the hopes are high that these FCCLA members, along with others, will be able to impact our Devine community positively with new projects and community service!