This past summer, three students from Madison County High School had the opportunity to go to Anaheim, California to compete in the National Leadership Conference. Burke Booth, Rianne Morrow, and Bentley Strickland won gold in the FACTS (Families Acting for Community and Traffic Safety) category for their STAR Events project.
Hard work and dedication got them there. After many months of planning, the time finally came for them to pack everything up and head to the first competition at North Oconee High School. After getting their score of silver, they were excited to know that they would be going to Atlanta to compete at State Leadership Conference. The nervous team headed to Atlanta, eager to present their project for a second time. They were confident they would advance to national competition. The three nervously anticipated the award ceremony to find out their score and if they would move on to national competition. When the time came, their results were bittersweet, as they won gold but did not move on to national competition.
The group was surprised to find out a few weeks later that they were the alternates and would be taking the place of a team that would not be able to compete. They took their project off of the dusty shelf and began making more improvements to be prepared to head for Anahiem, California and national competition.
After many long delays and layovers, the exhausted group finally made it to California, happy to have their feet on solid ground again (and to be able to sleep in real beds). After a long awaited nights sleep, they headed to Disneyland, where they met the world famous Donald Duck and they even were the first guests inside the parks’ new Star Wars land!
At last, it was time to present their project for the judges. The trio had worked very hard and waited anxiously for their results. On the day of the closing session, the group got to experience California’s earthquakes and receive gold.
In conclusion, the trip was more than exciting and Madison County Hich FCCLA encourages you to try out STAR events this year and get to make great memories such as these!