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RANDOLPH – Three high school students and their sponsor will soon be sleepless in Seattle as they attend the national Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) national leadership conference June 29-July 3.
It will be a jam-packed schedule of learning, presenting and sight-seeing while in the ‘Emerald City.’
Jenna Guenther, Braylee Kelley and Alaina Schulz earned a spot at the national conference when they received runner-up at the state FCCLA Level 2 Food Innovations competition earlier this spring.
For the project, the students developed a peanut butter cheesecake bites recipe and perfected it based on taste-testing feedback from their peers. Along with learning food safety and nutritional values, the students developed a packaging plan and made considerations about grocery store placement.
Kelley said the best part about creating the project was getting feedback and perfecting their recipe. For Guenther, the best part was hanging out with her two friends and sampling the goods.
“I love cheesecake,” she said.
Kelley’s least favorite part was memorizing the speech and doing the dishes, while Schulz didn’t appreciate the preciseness required in making the poster.
“You have to use rulers and I’m not a fan of that,” she said.
The students will be traveling with their FCCLA chapter adviser Frances Heiman and packing their project in a suitcase to compete at the national level in Seattle.
“We have to cut it and re-tape and put poster board over it so it can fit on the plane,” Guenther said. “Hopefully that goes well.”
The project will be set up in a huge room with all of the other FCCLA STAR projects to be judged in all categories on Monday, July 1. The students will give a memorized presentation in front of three judges and answer their questions. The trio will be competing against the top two projects from each state in their Food Innovations category - 99 students in grades 9 and 10, Heiman said.
Schulz said the key will be keeping a handle on nerves. But the team has put in the time - estimated 100 hours since December, or at least that’s what it felt like, she said.
“This project easily used 100 hours of the already scarce free time that these students have,” Heiman said. “Take their scarce free time, and factor in trying to find times when all three are available at the same time.”
Youth workshops and networking events will be held throughout the national leadership conference including a keynote speech by Caleb Campbell, a former NFL linebacker and motivational speaker. Students are scheduled on some sight-seeing excursions including visiting the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens and Glass, and going to a Mariners vs. Orioles baseball game.
“It is just good for them to soak in the entire experience,” Heiman said. “No matter what they earn for placement (on their project), there are so many life lessons to take away.”
Kelley and Guenther are looking forward to experiencing a new city and their first plane ride.
Schulz is excited to reconnect with friends she met at the state competition and make new ones.
The last time Randolph High School was represented at the national FCCLA conference was in 2018.
“This community, school board, administration, and peers have shown so much support to these students through logistics, financial support, words of encouragement, and giving the permissions necessary to let these girls showcase their hard work on the national stage,” Heiman said. “I can’t wait to see what they accomplish.”
