By Ben Dojutrek, sports editor

FCCLA took home a trip to Nationals after dominating the competition at State on April 9-11th.  The team took 25 students to Springfield to participate in 13 different events. The Knights defeated the competition, taking home nine gold awards, two silver and one bronze.
FCCLA stands for Family Career Community Leaders of America. Members of the club are tasked with creating projects that handle important personal, family, work and societal problems through family and consumer sciences. They then work on year long projects in order to solve said problems.
According to advisor Lisa Curtin, projects are graded on percentage, and only a project that receives 90 percent can earn a gold award. The Knights had the highest amount of gold awards at the state meet, making them the best chapter in the state.
The highest-scoring project was by juniors Amy Lee and Hannah Trais, which achieved a 100 percent rating and won a Most Outstanding award. The project involved making dog treats and collecting donations for a local pet adoption company. However, Lee does not care about the awards. For her, it was about helping with the animals and making connections in the community.
Curtin believes that this is the true benefit of FCCLA: it builds new leaders. Curtin takes more pride in involving students in the community than winning awards.
For Curtin, the trip was a culmination of the work she and fellow advisor Amy Collins have put into the club. Building from small beginnings to a state powerhouse, heading to a national competition that takes team back to where it started.
“The first national competition was in San Diego twelve years ago, and this will be our second time back,” Curtin said.