Brighton High junior Ansley Phillips was invited to join her school’s chapter of FCCLA last year.

“I’m glad I did,” she said. “We have all sorts of activities and there are competitions. I decided I wanted to become a club leader, so I’ve learned a bunch of skills and involvement there.”

Phillips, who serves as the chapter’s public relations officer in FCCLA, or Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, has learned leadership skills through planning and organizing events.

“I like being in charge and leading events; it’s been super amazing. It’s helped me grow in the way I manage things in my personal life and my relationships with other people,” she said.

Phillips was one of the team members who reintroduced paper recycling to her school, a project that will expand into mixed recycling next year, thanks to two students at nearby Hillcrest High who lobbied Canyons to take the lead in recycling amongst school districts.

“We talked to our administration, got the whole school recycling bins, and we've been managing that as our service project for this year,” she said. “It’s been a lot of fun serving our school.”

She, like some of the 35 other chapter members, takes part in the organization’s competitions.

In the STAR competitive events, or Students Taking Action with Recognition events, students demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities to actively identify an issue concerning families, careers or communities, research the topic, and develop and implement a project to advocate for positive change.

There are more than 30 STAR events, which help prepare FCCLA students for careers in human services, hospitality and tourism, education and training, and visual arts and design. 

Phillips sewed a flip dress with an embroidered pocket, which allowed her to practice her sewing as “a hands-on skill I can use beyond school, in my life.”

She earned a silver medal.  

Six other students earned gold at region, nine others received silver and one received bronze. 

Of the 16 students who competed at state, two qualified for nationals—senior Jacob Read in “Say Yes to FCS” and freshman Elise Jensen in food inventions contest.  

In the “Say Yes to FCS (family and consumer science education)” event, Read had to demonstrate his knowledge and skills needed to explore and experience the career of being a Family and Consumer Sciences educator. He prepared a portfolio, conducted classroom observations, planned and executed a lesson, developed an FCCLA integration plan, and delivered an oral presentation. At the state awards ceremony, Read pledged to becoming a FACS educator.

In food innovations, Jensen demonstrated her knowledge of the basic concepts of food product development by creating an original prototype formula, testing the product through focus groups, and developing a marketing strategy. She showed her knowledge of food science, nutrition, food preparation safety, and product marketing as she made a display, suggested product packaging, and gave an oral presentation. 

Since Jensen has a conflict, Read will solely represent the school July 2-6 in Denver, said the chapter adviser, Sierra West.

“Jacob also attended last year’s national conference in San Diego as a noncompeting student, so this is exciting for him to compete this year,” she said.

Brighton was honored with the four-star chapter award, the highest in FCCLA, as they met all the state goals.

The chapter’s officers attended the state leadership conference last fall where they learned leadership skills, set chapter goals and planned activities.

Many of the group’s activities are co-curricular, West said.

“We’ve had activities around child development, sewing and fashion, interior design and culinary,” she said. 

The group also had a nacho bar social, learned about internships, had a mindfulness activity and planned and held the winter formal dance, which served as a fundraiser for the chapter.

Their goal for the year was to reach out to others.

“Inclusivity is our biggest theme for this year,” West said. “We’re reaching out to more of our student body and invited others to eat lunch, play games or do activities each month. We’re wanting everyone to know they’re welcome and have a place that is accepting and kind. We try to implement service into a lot of what we do. We want people to know that FCCLA changes lives, not just the members, but for any student who needs a place. We want our students to learn to be leaders while serving others.”

Phillips agreed: “We welcome anyone to come to our activities. We want people to join us. It's hard to find places in high school where you can feel comfortable to be yourself in and feel like everybody wants you there. FCCLA has that really welcoming, inclusive atmosphere where the friendships I’ve made have gotten stronger. It’s been super fun.” λ