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Tonganoxie students to celebrate FCCLA Week

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 5, 2013

Tonganoxie High School’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America chapter will be celebrating its organization next week.

FCCLA Week starts Monday for chapters across the country. In Tonganoxie, the group will have themed days to celebrate.

Monday will be Backwoods Day, so students will be encouraged to dress like “hillbillies.”

Tuesday is Favorite Team Day, while Wednesday, Feb. 13, has been designated as Camouflage Wednesday.

Thursday, Feb. 14, will be Pink Out Day and Friday, Feb 15, is Far Out Friday. Students will wear clothes in the styles of the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Pink Out Day will conclude with culmination of a fundraiser FCCLA organized. The group sold pink shirts for breast cancer awareness. Students who wear their shirts to the game will be admitted for free.

FCCLA member Angela Faherty said that roughly $1,500 was raised through the T-shirt sales. Proceeds will go toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Fellow FCCLA member Emma DeMaranville said there are roughly 40 students in Tonganoxie’s middle school chapter and roughly the same number in the high school.

“We have one of the biggest chapters,” Faherty said of FCCLA membership in Kansas.

Overall, DeMaranville said there are roughly 200,000 FCCLA members covering the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The organization started in 1945 as Future Homemakers of America, but the name changed in 1999 to the current FCCLA.

“It was started at a convention in Chicago,” DeMaranville said. “It was based on FACS. You had to be in a family and consumer sciences class.”

DeMaranville and Faherty are freshmen this year at THS and have been part of a chapter with plenty of success. The TMS FCCLA won the national community service award the past two years.

Tonganoxie FCCLA members are gearing up for competitions this spring.

Districts will be in McLouth, while state always takes place in Wichita.

If students advance past those two rounds, they head to nationals this summer in Nashville, Tenn.

“District is your ticket to state,” DeMaranville said.

Divisions are split up into grades 7-9 and 10-12.

Students are judged on community service projects and in other categories, such as recycling/redesign and FCCLA promote and publicize.

As far as promoting their groups, Tonganoxie chapters are working to expand their presence in social media.

They can be found on Facebook, Facebook.com/tongie.fccla, on Twitter, Twitter.com/TongieHS_FCCLA, Instagram, at Tongie_FCCLA and Tumblr at tongiefccla.

The group also is planning to have an informational booth set up during the Feb. 14 basketball games.