written by Makenzie Chavez
On March 5-7, River View High School’s FCCLA chapter represented the school at FCCLA State Leadership Conference. I competed in a team STAR event in the category Hospitality Tourism and Recreation. This was one of many different options of STAR or "Students Taking Action With Recognition" events. My fellow students and I have discovered many
different careers and opportunities through participating in STAR events. In the past three months Mackenzie Mills and Makenzie Chavez worked to create a fictional creative business in the hospitality industry. Victoria Marshall has spent the past three years on her project to help provide hygienic items to our students. This year, she had taken the important community service project to our State Leadership Conference where she earned a gold medal. Our incredible advisor, Jennifer Ward, and two evaluators, Kaytie Ebright and Cassandra Rodriquez, participated as consultants for a wide range of different projects from schools all over the state.
The chapter stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton, a lovely hotel prepared to host all of Washington FCCLA, including the 780 participants of the conference. Despite an otherwise incredible service, after a long day of travel and competition our chapter received the keys to another chapter’s room! Later the issue was resolved quickly and effectively, and I have a story for the rest of my life!
Day 2 of the conference was made up of a series of workshops where keynote speakers, such as Deadliest Catch star Nick Tokman, gave presentations on a variety of topics. We went to workshops on topics such as job interview techniques, communication, and career specific presentations. I was given the opportunity to meet with the general manager of the DoubleTree at the workshop “Hospitality: The Double Tree Way.” The general manager answered questions quickly and effectively that gave me a lot of insight about the hospitality industry. Later that night FCCLA hosted a formal dinner where we practiced FCS values like manners and etiquette. Afterwards, the award ceremony and final party took place to finish off the awesome experience. I got to see a friend be elected Washington FCCLA President, and it was so much fun to dress up and dance in the large conference ballroom with hundreds of other students! After three months of hard work the relief washed over me and the entire ballroom. Some of us would move on to nationals, while the projects others were so passionate about ended that night. However the cookie crumbled, we all dared to dream.