On April 13 – 14, Niles North students involved in culinary, fashion, or early childhood education went to the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) State competitions in Springfield, IL. 

Like other state competitions for clubs, FCCLA has many different categories and divisions contestants can enter as. The categories are culinary, fashion, or early childhood education. Within those categories, there are certain projects or criteria you have to present in your competition. For example, those competing in early childhood education had a choice of organizing an imaginary school lesson plan, lesson plan making, and a storytelling lesson. 

Each competition is scored off of a rubric, and the score each contest receives determines if they move onto the next competition and what medal they receive. In order to receive a gold medal to move on, the contestants would have to receive a 90 or above on the scoring rubric. This scoring system is the same for each category. 

“It [FCCLA] was definitely something that puts me a bit out of my comfort zone which is gonna help me a lot in the future when i do become a teacher,” senior Iris Maclinga said. “I also feel like a misconception is that ECE isn’t worth any effort, which is wrong because I think being in it taught me a new perspective that I hadn’t thought of before.”

Niles North FCCLA participants first started off from sectionals, then most of them later on made it to State. Within the D219 district, 14 students won Gold Medals, and another 6 won silver medals. Within Niles North, 11 students earned 2 Gold Medals, 1 Gold-Most Outstanding, 7- Silver medals, and 1 Silver Most Outstanding medals. 

The winners from Niles North are:

Culinary Arts:

• Isabella Infante earned a Gold-Most Outstanding medal in food Production Salad.
• Louise Blades earned a silver medal in Food Production Salads.
• Arishba Khalid earned a silver medal in Food Production Salads. 
• JP Lorenz Guevarra earned a Silver medal in Food Production Relish Tray. 
• In the STAR Culinary Arts Competition at Dupage College, Louise Blades & Isabella Infante earned a Silver medal. 

Early Childhood Education: 

• Laiba Khalid earned a Silver-Most Outstanding
• Makaila Manirat earned a Silver Medal in Personal Child Care Provider.
• Morgan Bard and Pherris White earned a Gold Medal in Children’s Literature Presentation Team
• Irisjoy Maclinga and Helen Alfaro-Ortega, earned Silver medals in the Children’s Literature Presentation team.  

Fashion:

• Bella Kaminsky earned Gold Medals in Professional Career Image. 

“I really enjoyed competing this year and I created lots of close bonds with the people in my class and shared lots of memories while we were at state,” Maclinga said.

Congratulations to all students in their hard work and participation in the FCCLA competitions. If you are interested in participating in FCCLA further years, contact your counselor to get more information on culinary, fashion, or early childhood education classes to participate.