MIDVALE, UT — The FCCLA at Hillcrest High School is a program that helps with financial, career and nutrition support for families that are in need. It is a program which raises money and helps provide people in need with benefits and other opportunities.
FCCLA stands for Family Career Community Leaders of America. The teachers that run the program are the Fax and CTE skill teachers like Ms. McCloud, Ms. Dinsdale and Mrs. Woodland. There are about 15 members who are registered of the program at Hillcrest, but many other students participate in events that they host.
Sophomore Leah Simon, a member of the FCCLA program at Hillcrest stated, “The majority of our advisers are foods teachers and so most of us have taken foods class so I would say that we usually specialize in those as well as childcare.”
One of the big issues that the school faces is students with disabilities not having equal educational opportunities as the rest of the students. Therefore, there is a thing called a 504 plan that helps these students and provides them with equal access to education by making sure there are necessary accommodations being made such as arranged seating charts or extra test time.
The 504 plans usually target students with disabilities such as ADHD, diabetes, autism, anxiety, depression, vision or hearing impairments or temporary injuries.
Throughout the school year, the FCCLA hosts a few events, but the most popular one is the Halloween dance Husky Howl. This is a fundraiser. This is really popular among the students making it the most successful event that they host.
“As far as other activities, our monthly meetings are usually some sort of service activity, so we have been doing a lot of freezer meals,” Simon stated.
Out of the 15 members, about half of them participate in the competition with other schools during the Spring. The competition is relatively open to any type of project that a student wants to do.
“There are a bunch of categories you can do in the competition. This year I am doing Public Policy Advocate which could really be anything. A few girls are doing fashion and design, and others promoting and publicising FCCLA,” Simon proclaimed.