MORAN — Kayla Beth’s efforts to help area residents lose weight turned her into a big winner in the eyes of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.
Beth, entering her senior year at Marmaton Valley High School, received a gold medal for her work last october with Thrive Allen County’s SEK Meltdown effort.
The medal was presented in July at the National FCCLA Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla.
A gold medal is the highest honor an FCCLA member can receive through its STAR (Students Taking Action with Recognition) campaign.
Roughly 3,600 students nationwide entered STAR projects throughout the 2011-12 school year. The highest rated ones received top placings at state, qualifying them for the national conference.
Beth’s project included scheduling regular dance exercise sessions for residents looking to lose weight through SEK Meltdown. She hosted three dances a week through October 2011.
“We really were expecting only a few people to show up,” Beth said.
As word of the dances spread, crowds grew to as large as 29 a session.
“And it included a little bit of everybody,” she said. “We had people from the school and from the community. It was a lot fo work, but it was a lot of fun.”
Beth also was rated on whether her goals were met and her ability to critique her own project.
Beth hopes to see the Meltdown dances continue this year.
Meanwhile, she is setting her sights on a different sort of project.
“I’d really like to do something about drug abuse,” she said.
While Beth’s was an indivual project, several schoolmates joined her in the Orlando conference. They were Megan Blackmon, Lauren Korte, Levi Ramsey and Payton Wilson. They helped judge STAR events, advisor Elaine Stewart said.
More than 6,800 FCCLA members attended the national meeting.
