Manhattan High School’s chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America attended the state-wide FCCLA of Kansas conference on Aug. 29-30. It was held at the Hilton Garden Inn with many students and faculty from all over the state of Kansas.

At the conference, the MHS club members got the latest updates for the year about future competitions, opportunities and the different awards they could possibly present later in the year.

“This year, [the conference] was about leadership skills,” senior Kiira Facey said. “We went to several different meetings and listened to them talk about leadership skills, the different departments there are and the different competitions coming up in FCCLA.”

One of the opportunities to compete is in Students Taking Action with Recognition events. STAR events let students compete as a team or individually in different events. There are 30 STAR events total that members can choose from including baking and pastry, fashion design, entrepreneurship and more. Depending on how well the students do as a team or individually, one may have the opportunity to compete at the Region, District, State, or National level.

At MHS, the categories the students look forward to are those among culinary arts or baking.

“I’m looking forward to baking this year,” Facey said. 

“I did culinary last year but I’m going to do knife skills this year,” senior Anthony Rossi said.

For now, the students pick and choose what they would like to work on based on what they are good at or what category they would like to enter. Until this and other future events come, the students will prepare their skills, hoping to qualify for the next level of competition.

“[To prepare for future competitions], we will continue to study for our tests using the skills we’ve learned here and then just continue our culinary practice,” Facey said.

The club attendees agree that FCCLA isn’t exclusively for people that have been with the program for multiple years or have practiced their skill since they were young, they claim that everyone should try it.

“I think this is a good club for people to enter because it teaches you life skills but then you also get to do special fun events that you don’t normally [get to do in school],” Facey said.