Five Elkin High School students brought home gold, and two silver, after nine members of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) attended the state leadership conference in Greensboro on March 30-April 2. Several will represent North Carolina at the FCCLA national conference this summer.
Also at the conference, Barbara Long, Elkin City Schools Career and Technical Education director, was awarded the North Carolina FCCLA Outstanding Administrator of the Year award, and Elkin High student Ellie Hooper led the conference as state president and was awarded the “Order of the Rose” award.
FCCLA is a national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and addresses important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences Education. Membership has more than doubled in size in the last year, said Teague. Elkin High School lists 45 members.
The Elkin FCCLA chapter is led by Family and Consumer Sciences teachers and advisers, Kali Teague, Robin Hooper and Long.
Teague added, “FCCLA is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by student members. It is also the only student-led organization with the family as its central focus.”
The organization has involved more than 10 million youth since its founding as Future Homemakers of America in 1945.
Teague was a state officer of FCCLA when she went to Tuscola High School. “It made me who I am today, it made me able to do what I do today,” said Teague.
She said it has evolved into a heavy focus on leadership in all areas of life balance including family, work, and school. She said learning to prioritize is one of the most fundamental lessons for balance and leadership and the FCCLA focuses on that area.
“The cool thing is there is something for everybody, males and females can find their niche,” said Teague.
Advocacy skills, teamwork skills, public skills, part of the fundamentals of Future Homemakers of America had to evolve into what a modern world requires now in the areas especially of balancing work and home, she added.
