Plenty of schools offer school or student-led organizations which benefit students. They open doors for students and give them a chance at once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is one of many school-organizations and offers members a vast range of opportunities in a wide-range of career pathways compared to other organizations. It creates a community for future cooks, educators, artists and other careers. 

The local chapter advisors, Mrs. Haberstroh and Chef Harris, in conjunction with FCCLA officers ensure students are provided the opportunity to travel, do community service, work fundraisers like food truck day, gain leadership experience and have them play a vital role in shaping the future.

“Through FCCLA, students learn leadership skills, participate in school and community service projects, network with peers and professionals and equip themselves with college and career-ready skills,” Haberstroh said. “It also offers members the opportunity to expand their leadership potential and develop skills for life: planning, goal setting, problem solving, decision making and interpersonal communication.”

FCCLA also allows students to compete in the local county fair, The Johnson County Youth Fair. 

“In order for students to compete in the annual county fair they must enter through a school organization such as FCCLA, FHA or 4-H. There are many divisions to enter in, from baking and cooking to creative arts and crafts,” Harris said. “We got many ribbons for first-10th place and the top two winners get to take their product to auction the Saturday after the competition. This year four students got to auction and earned $2200, $500, $600, and $400.”

In recent years, FCCLA has become more successful and has made big impacts on the school and community because of the hard-working advisors. They are great with managing FCCLA and helping students with their competition events.

“I am forever grateful to Mrs. Haberstroh for all the paperwork, managing and the endless scheduling she keeps up with.  I teach strategies and give beneficial advice to kids competing,” Harris said. “Last year was an amazing year; it was our first year to advance from regionals, to state and finally to win in Baking and Pastries at nationals in Colorado. It was a lot of hard work but [Kaylee Cox] won second [place] in nationals in cake decorating skills. It was nice to see how excited she was and for her to know she was good at her craft.”

FCCLA has done some outstanding community service this year; their most noticed project being “Owls On Call” where members went to the Owl Stadium on a football night and carried trash bags around the stadium while cleaning up anything left behind by the fans. Another more recent service project was their shoe drive where they collected shoes to donate to third-world countries. It’s things like these that get local attention and make students want to be a part of something bigger in their community.

“I joined FCCLA because I wanted to leave a lasting impact in my community. FCCLA has given its members great volunteer and scholarship opportunities which are a lot of times not taken notice of,” Public Relations Officer Natalie Mendez said. “I enjoyed making friends in joining my first ever student organization and If I were to take anything from joining FCCLA it would be how it has made me open to talking to large crowds and be able to communicate better.

Students can get involved in FCCLA by reaching out to either advisor about any community service or volunteering opportunities available. This organization not only allows students to learn new things but grow from being a part of it.

“I feel like describing FCCLA as a journey is such an accurate representation of the experience. Many of our students have barely left the DFW metroplex and with FCCLA they get the chance to travel more,” Haberstroh said.  “It’s fun to see students step out of their comfort zone by traveling and pushing themselves in competitions. Many are surprised what they can accomplish when they apply some of the skills they’ve learned in class. FCCLA helps students through the journey of building self-confidence while helping to explore different career pathways that they may be interested in pursuing.“