By: Mike Rhodes—
Muncie, IN—The Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) 2019 State Leadership Conference was held at the Horizon Convention Center March 7-9 in downtown Muncie.
As students arrived, an assortment of little white shuttle buses from school systems around the state could be seen in the parking lot behind the Horizon Convention Center.
Each bus was emblazoned with the school corporation name. Some of the school system buses in the parking lot included: Northwest Allen County Schools, Southern Wells County Schools, West Noble County Schools, South Dearborn County Schools, Monroe County Schools, and many others. Over 1,000 student members from across Indiana attended the conference.
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America is a non-profit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public and private school systems.
Students take all year to plan and prepare for the state conference.
During the conference, many STAR events (Students Taking Action with Recognition) took place. STAR events are competitive events in which members are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills, and career preparation.
Alyson McIntyre-Reiger is the Indiana ProStart coordinator. ProStart is a nationwide, two-year high school program in the culinary arts and is part of the National Restaurant Association and FCCLA. “ProStart focuses on culinary skills, employability skills and work experience,” she said. “During the culinary STAR event, students have exactly 1 hour to prepare an appetizer, entrée, and dessert using only 2 burners.”
Twenty-five teams competed in the culinary portion, along with a separate management competition track, where students pitched their ideas about developing a complete restaurant concept. Pitches were detailed and included organizational charts for the restaurant, restaurant layout and design, menus and costing.
Brenda Osman is board chair of Indiana FCCLA. She said, “This was our third year to hold our conference at the Horizon Convention Center in Muncie. The Horizon Convention Center has been a great host for us, and the adjacent Courtyard by Marriott is great, too. This year we were probably up another 200 people for our conference and the Horizon Convention Center always does a nice job hosting our kids and advisors. That’s one of the reasons we came back.”
Renee Sigmon is the star events coordinator for FCCLA of Indiana and explained some of the other STAR events that took place during the FCCLA conference. “We have thirty-five different STAR events for students from 6th-12 grade. Our events help students learn skills and leadership techniques. Some of our other events include: Fashion design, interior design, interpersonal communications, entrepreneurship, early childhood development and more.”
Winners of STAR events at the Indiana conference will go on to compete at the FCCLA national conference to be held in Anaheim, CA in June.
About the Horizon Convention Center
Centrally located in a thriving downtown atmosphere, Horizon Convention Center connects personalized service and expertise to fulfill your custom convention, wedding, or event needs. Your guests will love the heart of Muncie!