FCCLA (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) is a career and technical student organization. At Mead High School, we have our own chapter where we meet during lunch.

We discussed different opportunities for the State Leadership Conference (SLC), such as participation and competing. I decided to go to the SLC in hopes of learning more about FCCLA and what it would be like if I wanted to compete in the SLC next year.

The State Leadership Conference was held at the Sheraton on April 4 through April 6. We began with our opening ceremony on the first day, which began our experience.

On April 5, some standout events were our banquet, which began with a fashion show and where awards and scholarships were announced.

After the banquet, there was a community service night with many different things to do. There were options to make blankets, plant plants, crochet things, and more. This provided time to give back and also bond. The USA chapter also made cards for people in nursing homes.

On our last day, we had our district sessions and closing ceremony in the morning. First, we separated into our districts, where we announced placements in the district for competitive events.

After that, we moved to the ballroom, where we began our closing ceremony. This is where the top three out of the state for each competitive event were stated. If you placed this, this would mean you have the opportunity to go to nationals.

Throughout the entire event, there were workshops we could visit. These ranged from things about traffic, presentation skills, mending, how you present yourself, and more!

While I didn’t compete, I got to see how things ran and learn from the workshops. This experience led to my wanting to compete next year at the state and many skills I can use for both FCCLA, school, and my day-to-day life.