MEMBERS of the FCCLA club competed in the regional STAR competition. STAR stands for Students Taking Action with Recognition. FCCLA members who participated had to create and work on a different STAR event category and demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities. They were all able to compete in a team or individually. FCCLA Lancers did great, and all who competed either earned a silver or a bronze, and all will advance to the state competition in March. 

“Getting ready for the STAR competition was really stressful because of all the rubrics and packets that judges expect from you,” Rosie Harry (9) said. “It was all different based on what you are doing, and I chose Leadership,” Harry said. 

One of the many categories that kids can choose is leadership. “When you think about leadership, you think of how to talk in public and how to be a leader at school or even in the workplace. I liked the experience and would recommend it to anyone who likes to travel outside of the school or who wants to do something within the school and be beneficial to them. FCCLA is a good start,” Harry said. 

Overall participating in FCCLA STAR events could be a great experience for any Lancer who wants to compete.

The nerves do quicken when participating in these types of events — especially when competing with different schools at the same time. “The STAR event was a bit nerve racking because we had to present in front of the judges,” Gisell Genovez (10) said. “My project was interior design, in which we had to make a board and design a space for our project,” Genovez said. 

One of the many categories to choose from for the FCCLA STAR event is interior designing. “We designed a counseling center, and there were many rooms. We had to create two boards for our materials and another one to describe the design and all the patterns we were going to use,” Genovez said. For each project, students have to create a board with different parts and meet the requirements for the project. “I was able to work with people, meet new people, and learn new things from the project,” she said. The FCCLA STAR event is a good experience and gives kids the opportunity to meet new people. 

Preparing for these events can be stressful and pressuring. Especially, when competing with many different schools and in front of so many judges. 

“I was super nervous because our project was not all the way done,” Ja Veon Huie (12) said. “For our project, we had to make a poster board and design a floorplan by describing and showing the plan for our project,” Huie said. “The experience was pretty fun, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, it’s just you thingking through it in your head. It can get stressful if you think about it too much,” Huie said. 

People may think of these types of events as stressful or nerve racking but genuinely it’s not that bad and you have a fun experience in the end.  “You meet a lot of new people. I think I would probably compete again, but just do a better job next time,” Huie said.

“During the event, I was a little nervous just because I feel like it went by too fast,” Lesly Pallares (12) said. “After a while, once I got to presenting, the nerves kinda went away just because the people were so nice about it,” Pallares said. “My event was career investigations, so I researched and informed myself about the career I want to pursue after high school. The experience overall was fun, they had a lot of workshops there for you to pass the time and have fun,” she said. “I met a lot of new people, and all the people there were sweet. I would compete again.”