FCCLA Officers Take Dallas by Storm
Launch the media gallery 1 playerPast FCCLA members may remember attending the Cluster Meeting for FCCLA. This conference is now known as National Fall Conference. More than 2,500 attendees from across the country traveled to Dallas, Texas, November 15-17, for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America’s (FCCLA) 2019 National Fall Conference (NFC). This three-day conference offered FCCLA members opportunities to strengthen leadership skills, explore Career Pathways, and compete in career-applicable skill demonstration competitions as well as team events that challenge students’ knowledge in personal finance, consumer responsibility, technology, health and safety, and more!
FCCLA members also received the opportunity to network with fellow youth leaders and learn more about future career and college options through exploring the career pathways of Human Services, Hospitality and Tourism, Education and Training, and Visual Arts and Design.
The Leigh-Clarkson FCCLA chapter brought the chapter officers to the conference. Those students included Reagan Settje, Taylor Larson, Payje Rayback, Abbi Brabec, Cassidy Hoffman, Alicia Holmberg, Bailey Lemburg, and Natalie Brabec. They were accompanied by Mrs. Megan Hillen, the chapter advisor.
Chapter Advisor Mrs. Megan Hillen said, “We had such a great trip to Dallas for the FCCLA National Fall Conference. The conference provided many opportunities for our officers to strengthen their leadership skills and network with students, advisors, and other professionals from across the nation.”
The students left Thursday and stopped for the night in Oklahoma. On Friday the girls were able to start their sightseeing by stopping at the Oklahoma City National Memorial in Oklahoma City. At the memorial there are many different features including the Gates of Time, which are tall walls that show the times at which the bombing occurred. There is also a field of empty chairs to signify all of the people killed in the bombing. They visited the museum as well, and were able to learn all about the occurrences that happened during and following the bombing.
They arrived in Dallas, Texas on Friday afternoon and attended the Opening Session for the conference. The conference was all on theme with the National Theme for this year: Your Story, Our Story. On Saturday they spent the day attending sessions. They first attended “ThinkFast Interactive”. The breakout sessions that our officers attended were “Start Writing Your Story” presented by the Nebraska State Officer Team, “Danger-Dating Violence Ahead” presented by the California State FCCLA President, “Lead the Change with Lead4Change” presented by a representative from Lead4Change, “Be STARssessful” by Washington State Officer, Jane Kratz, and “Managing Stress Together” presented by Irelynd Pearson and Connor Oberhauser from Twin River.
The girls were able to also make more stops in Dallas and eat at some great restaurants and stop at an area called the Farmer’s Market. At the Farmer’s Market there were many shops and the students were able to observe some traditional Dallas foods.
Chapter President Reagan Settje said, "National Fall Conference was a wonderful experience. We were able to learn a lot more about leadership and being ourselves all the time. We were also able to visit the local farmers market and Oklahoma Museum which was also a great experience."
FCCLA’s 2019-2020 annual theme, “Your Story,” challenged members to share their personal leadership story throughout NFC and learn from one another. FCCLA will be hosting its annual national conference in Washington, D.C., July 5-9, 2020, where more than 9,000 members, advisers, and supporters are expected to be in attendance as FCCLA celebrates its 75th anniversary.