Umatilla High School FCCLA State Competition 03-29-22
It used to be called Home Ec, a class where students may have learned how to fry an egg, sew on a button and take care of other household chores when they reached adulthood. Now it’s called Family Consumer Science, and the new name is just the beginning of what is different.
Holly Nygren is a Family Consumer Science teacher at Umatilla High School. This is her first year teaching at UHS, and she has been busy. Back in August 2021, UHS had their annual Club Tour, where students travel to different classrooms to learn about school organizations they may be interested in joining. Nygren was ready – she talked about FCCLA, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, a national organization that teaches middle and high school students real world skills. Several students were interested and a new chapter was started at UHS, and they have been busy. At Christmastime, they baked cookies and assembled cookie decorating kits for the school’s students – more than 200 kits! They run the Viking Café during sports events, serving up spaghetti, enchiladas and more. Club member Gianna Coleman, junior, said it’s been exciting to work on the projects, “especially running the café, learning the cash register and counting back money.”
Coleman and two other students – Skyanne Jacks (junior) and Xander Harsh, (senior) – then turned their attention to preparing for the FCCLA State Competition, which was held in mid- March in Portland. They created a large display board detailing all of their activities so far this year and prepared their presentation. Jacks said the experience was nerve-wracking, especially learning to speak without looking down and with more confidence. Harsh said he enjoyed the competition because “I got to learn new things and got to make new friends while there.” Their hard work paid off, because they won Silver at the state competition, qualifying them to compete at the FCCLA National Competition this summer in San Diego.
Nygren, who will accompany the students to nationals, said it has been rewarding to work with the students and see what they have accomplished. “For the first year as a new chapter, they have worked really hard and done some amazing things, and I am proud of them.”
FCCLA has more than 155,000 middle and high school members from 4,253 chapters across 47 state associations. FCCLA equips members with real world skills through Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) education by preparing members for careers through its four Career Pathways: Human Services, Hospitality and Tourism, Education and Training and Visual Arts and Design. To learn more, visit: https://fcclainc.org/.