By Mary Conner
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Ten MHS students from the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) program took home five gold medals, three bronze medals and two white ribbons from this year’s Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSO) state conference and competition on Feb. 25 and 26 at the Hawaii Convention Center. The competition consisted of categories such as presentations and competitive demonstrations of various skills, including culinary and knife cutting skills.
“I did not expect to get gold,” said Senior Erika Ryckman, a member of the sports medicine team. “I am unbelievably happy. It was really surprising. It’s always good to know hard work pays off.”
The participants for this annual competition prepared in various ways, depending on which category they would be competing in. “My teammates and I worked very hard throughout the entire third quarter, which was dedicated to working on our presentation for competition. While at competition, the day before we presented we went over our oral presentation multiple times in front of our adviser to make sure it was perfect,” said Junior Micah Andrade, a member of the Focus on Children team. Ryckman added, “To prepare for competition, we had to do a lot of background research on nutrition. We created a board to show our nutrition plan and management tools. We also had to prepare a speech for our presentation.”
Though they worked hard to prepare in their skill of choice, the members knew they would have push themselves out of their comfort zone. “I was expecting, or hoping, for a gold medal, mainly because we put so much effort and time into our project that if we got anything less I would have been pretty disappointed,” said Andrade. “I expected an intense competition from other schools; Baldwin, Moanalua, et cetera (and) it was quite scary to face other schools when we actually competed,” added Junior Ryvin-Lee Galvez, a white ribbon winner in knife skills.
When the results were announced at the competition, MHS’ Focus on Children team was told they would receive a silver medal, but later that night, they faced a very rewarding turn of events. “The day of our results, the judges told us we received silver,” said Andrade. “My group was very shocked and pretty sad that we didn’t qualify for nationals. But at 10 that night we got a text from our adviser saying there was a scoring mistake and we received gold. It was such a good feeling; I literally woke up my entire household because I was screaming. To win gold means a lot to me.”
Members of the FCCLA program agree that the program’s variety of opportunities that center around family, career and community skills have helped to shape them as a better person. “FCCLA is a club that isn’t just about your skills but how to work with others as well. You can improve your skills in this club and you can become an even greater person after competing,” said Galvez. Ryckman added, “FCCLA has taught me how to network with people all over the country and how to be a good leader. I have acquired many skills through this club, including time management and leadership skills.
MHS’ FCCLA members are proud to have been a part of such an important conference and hope their participation was a learning experience for their future endeavors with the program. Those who won look forward to improving their skills and being able to present them at this year’s national competition, held in Nashville, Tenn. later this summer.
