Worth County FCCLA Qualifies 14 Students to Nationals

Fifteen members of the Worth County FCCLA were prepared to compete at the Missouri State Leadership Conference at the end of March in Tantara, but schools started closing down and the conference was cancelled.  "The kids were disappointed to say the least, but we were hoping that it could be rescheduled later in the school year", stated adviser, Jonell Cook.  "I was so proud of this group because everyone who had competed at the Regional competition in Maryville advanced to state".   

The FCCLA National website was still inviting members to attend the conference scheduled for July 5th in Washington D.C until about 3 weeks ago.  At this time, the National FCCLA organization stated that they were planning to try a "Virtual" Conference.  Since the Missouri Leadership Conference had canceled and no one was able to compete, there would be no Missouri competitive events (STAR events) qualifiers to advance to Washington D.C.  Missouri FCCLA officials got together and decided to look at the Regional (14 Regions in Missouri) scores, with a standard deviation component factored in, to be able to have representatives to compete in STAR events at the National level.  "I couldn't believe it when I started getting emails from the state telling me that my kids were eligible to compete virtually at NLC. When the final email came in, Worth County FCCLA would have 14 out of 15 qualify to attend!" said Ms Cook.  Students have been busy taking pictures and uploading their projects and speeches, with the help of Mrs. Emily Maudlin,  in order to compete in the FCCLA National Leadership Conference next week. This has truly been a year to remember!  

Qualifying this year were Aivry Griffin, Caydee Sherer, Claire McElvain, Anna Spainhower, Jill Hardy, Taylor Sanders, Merrideth Spiers, Justina Wimer, Alison Anderson, Misty Helt, Lincoln Moore, Allison Larison, Braidy Hunt, and Wyatt Abplanalp.

Aivry (10th grade) chose to compete in the Job Interview event.  She was interested in the health field and did extensive interviews with local health care providers.  Aivry also shadowed Ashley Harding, a nurse practitioner. Aivry will be the only one to compete via Zoom interview with FCCLA National judges.

Caydee and Claire (9th grade) & Anna and Jill (11th grade) are competing in the Chapter Review and Display event.  The process of this event is to showcase all the projects, meetings, and activities that each local chapter has completed for the year. 

Taylor (9th grade) is competing in the Fashion Construction event.  Taylor constructed the garment in Ms Cook's Textiles/Clothing class, used the dress in FCCLA competition, and submitted it for Mrs. Spiers' Romeo and Juliet project. Taylor had never sewn and this was quite an accomplishment.

Merrideth (12th grade) & Justina (10th grade) are competing in Promote & Publicize FCCLA! event.  Both girls were responsible for Facebook posts, school announcements, newspaper articles, Instagram accounts that promoted Worth County FCCLA accomplishments/recognition. Merrideth created a Worth County recruitment PSA  that has been shared with Missouri FCCLA!  

Alison (9th grade) is competing in a new category called  Say Yes to FCS Education.  Alison had to research colleges with a Family & Consumer Science degree, interview several area FACS teachers, and create lesson plans and activities to teach 7th graders about the dangers of vaping/juuling.

Lincoln and Misty (10th grade) & Wyatt, Allison, and Braidy (11th grade) are both competing in the Food Innovations category.  This year's prompt from the National FCCLA was to create a vegan dish. Misty and Lincoln created a lunchtime wrap making a cilantro mint chutney, chickpeas, cauliflower and avocados while the team of Wyatt, Allison, and Braidy created a tofu dish containing beets, wild rice, miso paste, shallots, and celeriac root.  Both teams enjoyed learning more about vegan cooking and getting creative in the kitchen.