FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) students will be moving on to the state competition on April 6-8 in Dallas after 14 students places at the Region 3 contests in Waco. Mrs. Mary Michelle Ellis and Ms. Kimberly Baker sponsored the two chapters that will be moving forward for various individual and group contests.

For Mrs. Ellis seniors Dallana Vargas and Delondra Dixon took first and second in the Recycle and Redesign contest.

“I’ll feel accomplished when I place first at state,” Vargas said. “Or hopefully at nationals,”

Dixon said she  is also going to give it her all moving forward.

“My greatest motivation is to travel to Tennessee and represent my school at Nationals,” Dixon said.

Other students advanced to the State contest after successfully completing test over fashion design. These tested the students’ knowledge on fashion history, the industrial revolution, French couture, fabrics and ergonomics. Senior Samantha Rojas received a gold medal and seniors Jordan Williams and Maria Osegueda received silver medals. They were both one point away from receiving a gold medal in their category.

“I actually used flashcards that the girls and I made,” Osegueda said.  “We made study guides like a kahoot off of certain topics we had been learning about in fashion design.”

Rojas said that paying attention in class and studying actually paid off. This helped her get a near perfect score on the test considering they studied things they have been learning for the past year and a half.

“I was so overwhelmed but super excited,” Ellis said. “I’m always nervous because I feel like I am the one competing.”

For Baker’s chapter, junior Noah Mendez won the Vice President of Competitive Events officer spot for Region 3 heading to State. Baker said Mendez had to get well prepared in order to earn this spot in a competition with over 40 counties competing.

“I began to study FCCLA facts and history, as well as rehearse my speech,” Mendez said. “The process was difficult but was so worth it in the end.”

​ He is currently the president of  Baker’s chapter and she has been helping him with leadership, organizational and personal skills.

“I cannot take too much credit for his winning,” Baker said.  “Noah came to me two years ago with many of these qualities already imbedded in his personality.”

Baker and Mendez said they hope to work closely with the people who advanced in the competition and make small adjustments to their projects and move on to the national level.

“I put in so much effort to become an officer and to be chosen as one means so much to me,” Mendez said.  “I am so honored and proud to represent Duncanville through FCCLA.”

This year Baker had  several students who worked on various teams to accomplish their goal of  bringing home plaques and medals for their FCCLA chapter.

“I am extremely proud of all of these students,”  Baker said.