By Jack McDermott
Online Editor-in-Chief
After half a year of interviews and speeches, Senior Lauren Becherer was awarded the position of President presiding over Illinois for FCCLA.
The entire process started during the state competition which occurred April 10-12.  The applicants competing for a spot in the state office all had to participate in an additional speech and meetings where they would present a random topic to show their ability in an FCCLA competition.
Then at the end of state, those voted to go on had to write and memorize a different speech for a specific position.  However, unlike most years, everyone but two applicants entered for President, making the competition much more difficult.
Becherer believes that she got the position because of her involvement in a large school and her personal interview, where she believes she “blew them away.”
The only requirement for applying was to be in FCCLA for at least one year but the main things judges looked at was an applicant’s ability to manage time and be social.
“You have to be a good student because there is a lot of work so you have to be able to keep up with your grades and handle the commitment of being a state officer,” Becherer said.
Now, President Becherer will be in charge of running all the state meetings when there is a new movement to be passed or topic to be discussed.  She will also have to attend youth leadership meetings and give speeches at the state competition.  To show her position in meeting she also received a gavel.
Throughout such a difficult and long process, Becherer was lucky to have such great support from her FCCLA chapter at Prospect through it all. Preschool teacher and State Advisor Lisa Curtin helped by networking for Becherer and helping her write all of the speeches while the entire chapter would listen to her speeches.
However, the many favours done by Becherer’s peers will be repaid because Becherer will be one of the few winners from the North side of Illinois, giving the entire North side a much larger say in how FCCLA is run.
“[Prospect’s entire FCCLA chapter] all thought she was the best candidate for president because she has such a sparkling personality and can easily lead a group of people,” FCCLA member and Senior Mary Poniki said.