Highmore FCCLA Attends 2016 State FCCLA Leadership Conference
Monday, May 2, 2016
Members from the Highmore FCCLA Chapter joined over 1,300 members, advisors, and guests who attended the South Dakota FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) Leadership Conference held on April 24-26 at the Ramkota Convention Center in Sioux Falls. The “Empower Mepower” themed event was a success. A team of ten officers, including our own local State Officer Kaitlyn Hague, VP of Community Service, from across the state ran the meeting as a conclusion to their term in their respective state officer position. Members attended workshops, competed in STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) Events, and ran for leadership positions. “Cometry -- Laugh & Learn” was the keynote speaker on Sunday night during the opening general session. On Sunday afternoon and on Monday students had the opportunity to attend workshops presented by leadership team members, FCCLA members and officers, and other groups and organizations. As a state officer Kaitlyn Hague had many responsibilities including helping with the Run/Walk which was televised and putting on a card workshop during that dance in which members made cards to be donated to nursing home residents. Highmore’s State Leadership Team Member for the National Outreach Team, Riley Aasby, also fulfilled her duties by helping to judge interviews in put on a workshop for members to attend.
On Monday evening during the second general session, awards and recognition were announced. Highmore members did very well during the awards session. Kaitlyn Hague was the only applicant to receive the SD FCCLA Scholarship Award and also received the highest honors possible that a Chapter President can receive with the Presidential Award. We had four members run to be members of the State Leadership Teams and all were chosen to their teams: Alia Converse and Kimberly Moser will serve on next year’s National Outreach Team and Madison Bollweg & Riley Aasby will serve on next year’s Current Trends Team. The Highmore Chapter received the honor of Gold Merit Chapter and also received recognition for applying for a National Award for our Dig for a Cure Event. Students who received recognition for Step One & Power of One were Jordan Archambeau, Regan Bollweg, Avery Bourk, Hunter Brueggeman, Cheyenne Carroll, Chase Cermak, Mark Hague, Kassie Hale, Denver Henry, Haley Husted, Drew Kroeplin, Paige Lehrkamp, Bane Mitchell, Remington Paynter, and Elijah Vlcek. Emily Semmler also took a big leadership leap and ran for a position as the Junior High Representative State Officer and did a great job! Zoe Tvedt was also recognized for being selected the only member from SD to receive the Japanese Exchange Program Scholarship worth over $11,000! Brittany Fyler served as our voting delegate.
On Tuesday morning results of the conference’s STAR Events participants were announced. Members can receive a rating of bronze, silver, or gold but if they were the top in their room they receive a Top Superior and get to walk across the stage and receive a Gold Medal. Highmore had many Top Superiors this year including: Paige Lehrkamp, Avery Bourk, & Cheyenne Carroll in Food Innovations, Velvet Jessen & Haley Husted in Food Innovations, Shantay Werdel & Samantha Hoffman in Life Event Planning, Kassidy Dyer in Focus on Children, Elora Domke, Alia Converse, & Digit Aasby in Focus on Children, Memory Big Eagle & Madison Wieseler in Focus on Children, Natalie Leisinger & Rebecca Buchholz in Chapter Service Project Portfolio, Madison Bollweg in Recycle & Redesign, Shea Husted in Sports Nutrition, and Autumn Reed in Career Investigation. Students to receive Gold ratings were: Jacob Moser & Kassie Hale in Illustrated Talk and Makayla Kroeplin in Career Investigation. Students to receive the Silver Rating were: Drew Kroeplin & Hunter Brueggeman in Sports Nutrition, Denver Henry in Life Event Planning, Bane Mitchell & Mark Hague in Life Event Planning, Zoe Tvedt & Tyra Flaaen in Environmental Ambassador, Kaitlynn Dyer in Teach & Train, Kimberly Moser in Illustrated Talk, & Rachel Husted in Life Event Planning.
Freshman member Madison Bollweg won her event, Jr. Recycle & Redesign and qualified to attend the National Meeting this summer! The National Leadership Conference will be held in San Diego on July 3-7.
There was also a bylaw change made at the state convention that will affect next year. The vote was to change from 9 districts to 6 regions and it passed so next year instead of being a member of District 7, Highmore Chapter will now be a member of Region 2. This was also the last year of state meeting being held at the Ramkota in Sioux Falls, next year our meeting will move a month earlier and will be held at the Convention Center in Sioux Falls.
Adviser Mrs. Kroeplin is VERY proud of all of the FCCLA members who attended and competed at the State Leadership Meeting this year! The Highmore Chapter would also like to thank the amazing chaperones who made the trip possible: Tara Buchholz, Tonja Jessen, Angie Bollweg, Jennifer Semmler, & Shannon Moser. Don’t forget to attend our FCCLA Awards Night on Monday, May 9 at the Hyde County Auditorium @ 6:00. Students will be recognized for their accomplishments and officer positions will be announced for the upcoming school year.
FCCLA is the only youth-led organization with family as its central focus. Members learn how to be active community leaders, become caring family members, and prepare for life beyond high school.