#fcclapride

Hello FCCLA! The new school year is off to a great start and we all know what that means:  recruitment time!  This time of year presents excitement for our new members and re-energized ideas for returning members.  I challenge you this year to strive to build up your chapter and get the word out to your community about just how great our dynamic organization is in the lives of our members and those that we partner with. When introducing FCCLA to new people, you often get asked the question, “Why FCCLA?”  The real question is, “Why not?!”

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America is the ONLY Career and Technical Student Organization with the family as its central focus. Family is something that EVERYONE can relate to! Although families have evolved from the traditional nuclear family, no matter whom you call your family-- defined by blood or bond-- FCCLA can help you create stronger family ties and values. I’m thankful to have my FCCLA Family of more than 200,000 members, along with my Taylor family of four.

Aside from the family, our organization teaches skills for life to not only our members, but also the students enrolled in Family and Consumer Sciences. The FACS curriculum prepares students to be successful individuals in today’s society. Our year-long theme is “Together We Are…” and I encourage you to complete this sentence with your own chapters. 

The 2014 National Cluster Meetings theme is “Together We Are Ready”.  We are focusing on how FCCLA prepares its members for college and career readiness. Do you like to travel? Just this year, FCCLA gives you the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. for Capitol Leadership, New Brunswick, NJ, Little Rock, AR, or Salt Lake City, UT for National Cluster Meetings, and back to our nation’s capital for the 2015 National Leadership Conference! At these conferences, you will truly have the Ultimate Leadership Experience. Along with workshops, general sessions, and time for fun, you will get to network with people from all over the nation, creating lifelong friendships.

Together we are making a difference.  FCCLA’s national programs have something to offer every member.  I hope students experience the Power of One, and strive to become better individuals in their families, careers, and communities.  Advisers can give their chapters the opportunity to reach out to other students in their school by developing and carrying out a peer education project through Student Body, Families First, or Financial Fitness.  Spreading the red of FCCLA in our schools will surely help to grow our chapters.  Together we are growing!  Gain leadership skills and set goals for personal growth by enrolling in the Leadership Academy.  This opportunity has something to offer every member as they travel along their leadership journey. Members can get involved in their local chapters and carry out projects that impact their own communities, or take it to another level and participate in regional, state, or national activities.

FCCLA truly has something for everyone to be part of, whether it’s programs, STAR Events, traveling, or advocacy. This year, I challenge you to get involved and share your own “Why!” because Together We Are FCCLA.

  Do you enjoy repeating our organization’s creed at the end of every single FCCLA meeting? It’s similar to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every single morning at school. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, values are defined as “the the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.” You may not know it, but the FCCLA creed is actually the baseline of the values in our organization. Our organization was founded in 1945 with the same values that have been carried on throughout the past 70 years! We don’t repeat our creed just because we enjoy the sound of our own voices-- we do it because it means something! We establish at the beginning of our creed that we are the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. There is no one else in this entire nation that can compare with FCCLA members because, “We face the future with warm courage and high hope.” This sentence lets us know that whatever background we come from, or whatever career goals we have, each and every one of us have set a high standard for each other and will go out into society with courage to achieve what we set out to accomplish!  This year, as you continue your FCCLA journey by attending chapter, state, and national meetings, I encourage you to take a look back at our creed and personally see how it makes a difference in YOUR life. Next time you repeat the creed, repeat it with power, passion, and pride!