The Family, Career, Community Leaders of America, or FCCLA, at Wakeland recently sent 14 students to participate in state competitions. With a variety of competition events, such as the cupcake decorating contest, STAR Events, and FCSA tests, these 14 students, me included, were set against the 20,000 other Texas FCCLA competitors.
The goal: get second place in your selected category to advance to nationals. My event, the STAR event for the Sustainability Challenge, had a total of 21 teams competing.
Since the start of the school year, my team and I worked hard on our project, gathering interviews from the Frisco Environmental Collection Center, the Frisco City Natural Resources Department, and other groups. We created an organization, Recyclops, in which we expanded awareness about sustainability and contamination at our school and through our community.
We filled out as many parts of our rubric as possible through presenting environmentally-focused presentations to students, gathering research, and hosting recycling events. After months of tirelessly working, we were ready to compete.
On April 12, all 14 Wakeland competitors got up at five in the morning. I remember feeling nervous, almost queasy, at the thought of finally presenting to the state judges. What would they think about our project? Would we make it to nationals? Would we go home empty handed or with a trophy? The ride to the convention center in Dallas was tense, all 14 of us silent for the majority of the time.
“The ride was so intense, all I could do was review my script over and over in my head. Since we had only three hours at the Anatole to practice as a team, I didn’t want to mess up. It was one of the most nerve-wracking moments I’ve had to experience,” Solai Nachiyappan, one of my teammates for state, said.
After our three hours of practice were over, my team and I anxiously entered the room where the judges sat. We set our slideshow down, presented, and walked out. Those brief 12 minutes in the room were a blur. From then, we had to wait for two more days, giving time for the 20,000 other competitors to compete, to finally receive our result.
Mrs. Foster, Wakeland FCCLA’s sponsor, said, “I was nervous with [the competitors] too! I know how much time and effort went into these projects, so I really wanted everyone to do good.”
Once every team had gone, FCCLA celebrated with a huge after party with music and a dance floor. At that very same after party, each group would figure out if they made it in the top five of their event. Wakeland’s 14 competitors held their breath as Mrs. Foster opened the form containing the names of the top five. The names were out, my team and one other made it! But still, we didn’t know if we were in the top two who qualified for nationals.
At the awards ceremony, each event was individually called up, and each team in the top five was placed from fifth to first place. The other group who made it in the top five went up and placed second, qualifying them for nationals! Then, my team’s event was called up.
As my team and I went up on the stage and awaited our placement, the whole room seemed to start spinning around me. Would we make it?
Fifth place was announced, it wasn’t us. Fourth place was announced, it wasn’t us. Third place was announced. It still wasn’t us. We made it! We were in the top two! My teammates and I gasped as we were called up for our second place award. Second place out of the 21 other teams in our event.
We held our medals high and walked off the stage, almost in tears. And just like that, Wakeland’s FCCLA had six students qualifying for nationals competitions this summer.