Student Opinion: FCCLA Holds Many Opportunities, Memories
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy: Natalie Brabec, a junior at Leigh High School
This year I have had the opportunity to serve on Nebraska’s Family Leader Peer Team. A peer team is a team under the state officers. We are a team of 15 students across the state of Nebraska. There are three teams: the family team, the community team, and the career team, with 5 members on each. Each team has a main focus of one of the eight national programs. The Family Leader Peer Team is focusing on the national program, Stand Up. Stand Up is about advocating for someone you believe in.
The biggest thing that the Peer team does is plan a conference in February in Kearney called State Peer Education Conference. There are speakers and different meetings FCCLA members can attend throughout the conference.
Multiple students across the state of Nebraska try to make the Peer team, but only 15 students make it. The process of becoming a State Peer officer seems very intimidating, but trust me, it is not at all. To start the process, FCCLA members have to fill out an application, and after all applications are submitted, there are 30 finalists who are chosen. These finalists attend the State Peer Conference in February and choose a topic to create a presentation that they then present at State in April. At State in April, the finalists present their presentations to a panel of judges, have an interview with those same judges, then finally take a test about FCCLA knowledge. After this process, there is a letter drop where applicants find out if they made one of the three teams or not.
I was so nervous about going through this process last year, but I am so glad I gave it a shot, and I’m so proud I made it. I would definitely tell any other high school student looking to get more involved in a leadership organization to become more deeply involved in FCCLA. Through becoming a state peer officer, I have made friends that I will remember throughout my entire life. From becoming a finalist for the peer team, I was required to go to a Peer Conference in February, and it was one of the best experiences I have had in FCCLA. I was able to connect with fellow FCCLA’ers and learn more about this amazing organization. When COVID-19 hit the state of Nebraska, all of my fellow Peer Team finalists were so devastated because we were not able to see each other at State in April. I am never going to forget the two-hour Zoom meetings that we had just talking with each other.
I am so grateful for all of the opportunities, memories, and friendships that I have gained throughout this experience, and I hope I can make many more memories in FCCLA!