MORAN — The process was not an easy one, but Marmaton Valley High sophomore Payton Wilson has been selected to serve as a state officer for FCCLA. OTHER MEMBERS of FCCLA, 19 total, divide their responsibilities among eight teams.
State officers for FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) were selected during the regional conference in March in Hesston. The selections were not made on a whim.
Potential officers are monitered all day by judges during the conference, to see how they lead in front of groups and how they represent themselves. Also, they are given a written test and are interviewed by a panel.
“The test was pretty easy for me,” Wilson said. “But the interview was pretty hard. They asked a lot of behavioral questions you really have to think about, life questions.”
Elaine Stewart, FCCLA supervisor, said the selection of officers is only those who meet and exceed FCCLA criteria.
“We have had some officers in the past,” Stewart said, “But it doesn’t happen a lot, it has been a while.”
Wilson will be in charge of the peer-education team for FCCLA on the state level, as well as the state community service projects. He said he is excited to see what the state officers can drum up for projects this year.
Wilson said it is an honor to be a state officer.
“I’m excited to get started, it opens up a lot of opportunities for me,” Wilson said.
The Marmaton Valley FCCLA team will head to the state conference in Wichita April 7-9.
The National Programs in Action team has focused on Relay for Life.
For the Interpersonal Communication team, members organized a meal with students’ parents. They provided a guest speaker to make a presentation on dinner-table communication and provided a meal as well.
The Focus on Children team has created “Birthday in a Bag” donations for the Iola Area Ministerial Alliance. The bags include all sorts of party supplies so underprivileged children can celebrate their birthdays.
The Community Chapter Service is thinking outside the box for their event. They have organized a “Senior Prom” to be held on April 14 from 2 to 4 p.m. The seniors they refer to are actually adults, who will have the chance to relive their high school days by attending the dance.
Kayla Beth, the individual representative, is organizing her own senior graduation party for her project. The project includes the planning, shopping comparisons, theme budgets and many other facets.
The junior-division Interpersonal Communication team is focusing on the importance of organ donations — how to make a difference, and where to make yourself eligible to be a donor.
The team charged with organizing the FCCLA chapter is the Applied Technologies group. They have created a Facebook and Twitter page to keep the group organized and to get information out to the public.
Finally, the Voting Delegates have been selected to serve as voting members for the state conference.
Student tapped as FCCLA officer
