FCCLA
“We are the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. We face the future with warm courage and high hope.” This is the first line of the FCCLA creed recited by members at their local chapter meetings. Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a renowned national Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) composed of high school and middle school students across the United States. Since 1945, this organization has been growing student leaders with intra-curricular and community activities. FCCLA was originally called FHA (Future Homemakers of America), and it was made up of Home Economics students.
There was a national shift in education when it became evident that students needed Career and Technical Education pathways into higher education or the workforce. “Essentially, Home Ec grew into Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), and FHA grew into FCCLA,” said Jessica Kelly, Slaton High School FCCLA advisor and FCS teacher. “Family and Consumer Sciences is everything Home Ec was, with more specialized paths into adulthood.” Slaton High School offers FCS courses in Child Development, Education and Training, Financial Literacy (Dollars and Sense), Fashion Design, Culinary Arts, and a Principles of Human Services class which is a baseline course where freshmen learn a bit about each of the FCS pathways.
A student must be/have been enrolled in an FCS class to join FCCLA.
Slaton’s FCCLA chapter varies from 30-40 members each year. Students enroll and pay dues, conduct chapter meetings using parliamentary procedure, and elect a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and historian who serve a year-long term. Members plan family or community service activities and can choose to compete in FCCLA leadership events in 50 different categories, including community service, fashion design, culinary arts, hospitality, entrepreneurship, and many others.Jessica Kelly and BaLeigh Pugh are Slaton High School’s FCS teachers and FCCLA advisors. They help students decide on competitions, follow strict rubrics and guidelines, create timelines and meet deadlines, create displays, and write, practice, and execute oral presentations or proficiency events.Kelly and Pugh meet withstudents after school, on weekends, and during school to develop these presentations. Students must be highly motivated, diligent, and courageous to develop in-depth projects and compete against stiff local and state competitors in their age groups.
