FCCLA Attends District Leadership Conference
This past week, 23 members of the Plainview FCCLA chapter traveled to Northeast Community College for the District 8 Leadership Conference. The theme for this year’s conference was “The Power of Us”.
The conference began with the opening ceremony and introduction of the district officers. Marque Albin represented Plainview as District Officer. The District Officer Installation was then held with Albin being installed as a District Secretary.
The keynote speaker for the day was Revolution, from the Center for Survivors out of Columbus. The theater-based presentation was written and performed by a group of students composed from the three high schools in Columbus. The student actors have gone through extensive training on dating violence, sexual assault, and bystander intervention in order to spread awareness and provide outreach in the community. They are trained to identify unhealthy dating behaviors and sexual assault, respond appropriately, and refer victims to advocates at the Center for Survivors. The drama presentation focused on dating violence, sexual assault, and healthy relationships. The goal of the presentation is to help adolescent survivors of violence identify their victimization and teach them how to access services and get help. It also encourages students to hold their peers accountable for unhealthy behaviors. Following their presentation, student actors remained in character while they answered questions about their behavior(s) from the audience. The presentation ended with the actors getting out of character and answering questions based on their personal perspectives.
Members really enjoyed the keynote speaker and found it to be a highlight of the day. “Revolution was super good and was very true because people don’t know how awful things can be and how many times it does happen to the people around us.” said Baili Prewitt. Kelsie Wingert agreed and added that “the opening session was very detailed, and I feel it helped others who didn’t know that much about these topics understand them.” Roni Prewitt also agreed saying that “I loved Revolution, and it showed me a lot about what goes on in schools and communities.”
Following the keynote, members attended two different breakout sessions. Sessions offered included a Culinary Demo by Kimberly Milovac, Future Career Planning by Anny Friedrichsen from the Department of Health and Human Services, How to Improve Your Speaking Skills by State and Peer Officers Ashlyn Vazquez Catalan, and Reagan Fernau, How to Improve Your Local FCCLA Chapter by National FCCLA Officer Leonardo Luna-Duran, and Planning Your Future by a panel of Wayne State College FCS future teachers, and Jazzercise with Jacquie King and Bonnie Schroth.
Members had a lot to say about the sessions. Plainview Jazzercise was a hit again with members lining up to get in. Wingert really enjoyed her session on Jazzercise and said, “It was so fun and kept my energy up.” Anika Robinson stated, “I liked the speech session and the human knot activity we did.” Weston Hoffman enjoyed the Culinary Demo stating, “Kimberly Milovac was very informative and fun. We were given a strawberry pina colada smoothie drink as we learned about how hospitality and services can increase a person’s experiences while at a restaurant, vacation, cruise, etc. She had different demonstrations for us throughout the session.” Roni Prewitt agreed. “The Culinary Session was excellent. I learned a lot about how hospitality is used every day and how it affects our lives.” New member Anna Smith stated, “I liked all my sessions today. It was fun to be with my chapter, meet new people, and to see some of my friends from other schools.”
During the Closing Ceremony, Power of One Award Certificates were presented to students for the modules they completed last year. Receiving certificates from Plainview were Shayla Jacobsen “A Better You” Module; and Marque Albin with “Family Ties” Module and “Working on Working” Module.
During lunch, members competed in the FCCLA Knowledge Quiz Bowl. Participating in the Quiz Bowl for Plainview were Marque Albin, Shayla Jacobsen, Weston Hoffman, Roni Prewitt, and Baili Prewitt. They did extremely well and received certificates of participation during the closing session.