The Bulldog Chapter.
Welcome to Bulldog FCCLA! We strive to help you become a strong leader and citizen. Our main focus is on school and community involvement and have numerous community service projects that we participate in throughout the year.
Although our chapter is small, our hearts are big, and our dedication and commitment is even bigger. We may be few, but we have "strong courage and high hope," for a better community but an even better tomorrow. With every step we take, every donation of time, we shape lives and become the leaders necessary for our community.
" Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. "
Margaret Mead
President's
Message
It is an honor to be President for the 2014-2015 school year. Two years as Vice President does not compare to what it is like being the President of Bulldogs FCCLA Chapter. This year has been a mix of ups and downs, but the progresson of this club has definately been a highlight. My first year as Vice President, only three people competed, two of them were at the district level and although they got gold they did not qualify for states. This year, I am proud to say that eleven people competed and all of them qualified for states except for one team, however, they did recieve a gold medal. Two years ago we had sixteen members now we have about fourty. It is little things like this that makes me proud of how far the Bulldog FCCLA Chapter has gotten.
This years members are willing to help and participate in social issues. We have competed, participated in Adopt-A-Family for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and cooked and fed the homeless at Chapman Partnership. The members enjoyed these activites and are eager to continue to donate items and their time.
However, FCCLA's triumph is a group effort. Thanks to my magnificent officers and their leadership this club has been able to run effienctly. They accomplish tasks and take loads of work off of me and our Advisor. I am proud to work with great people.
A special thanks to our Advisor, Mrs. Appelrouth Rader who has devoted her time to this club and blindy follows our interests.
"We are the Family Career Community Leaders of America," and I am proud.
Sincerely,
Marcos
FCCLA President
2014-2015
Tell Us What's On Your Mind
A Few words
from the advisor.
FCCLA takes ordinary students and turns them into extraordinary citizens that will in turn give back to society. I have seen so many students transform themselves through FCCLA projects and learn to speak publically without fear. They embark on a journey to change the lives of those in their community through service projects benefiting everyone from children to teenagers to adults. The impact that these students make is incredible.
Stay
Connected.
Feeding the
Homeless
Every night most of us get to go home and have a nice, warm meal at our dinner tables with our families. What happens to those who do not have this privilege? What happens to those who not only have to worry about where their next meal will come from, but if they will even make it that long to worry about something we see as being so trivial as a warm meal. The realization of how often this happens is heart breaking. After much research, we came upon Chapman Partnership for the Homeless, an organization that is dedicated to helping the homeless by providing them with emergency housing, meals, day care, job placement and assistance. We looked into this organization and recognized the opportunity we were looking for to make a change.
Following our discovery, our Vice President of Community Service, Marcos Bengochea, made a call to the person in charge of volunteers and donations at Chapman Partnership. He discussed our community service project idea of cooking casseroles for the residents and then going to serve them to the families living at the center. After agreeing on a day that we would be able to go to Chapman and not only deliver, but also serve our casseroles, our community service project was set in motion.
A flyer was made that provided the names of all the ingredients we would need in order to make our casseroles. This flyer was sent to the teacher’s in the school, club sponsors and administrators along with a letter which asked them to post the flyer somewhere in their rooms. We also had the person in charge of making the school’s announcements read the flyer in the morning and after school announcements. After presenting the community service project to our members, they signed up to bring in donation items for our casseroles. Over the next few days we collected ingredients from not only our members, but also from teachers and students throughout the school.
The casseroles were cooked and prepared by our ServSafe Certified Historian and Vice President of Finance, Rebecca Loredo and Karishma Santdasani, the day before going to Chapman Partnership where we would deliver and serve the casseroles. Working out of our school’s culinary kitchen with the ingredients that we collected from the donations, they were able to make a total of 21 casseroles for our Feeding the Homeless Initiative.
With the casseroles ready to go, we made our way over to Chapman where we would provide lunch to the current residents of the center. Making our way into the kitchen, we immediately set off to help in any way that we could. Half of our group assisted in the kitchen with preparing the meal that would later be served for dinner and the other half of our group cleaned the serving area and prepared it for lunch. At noon, the residents of the center entered the cafeteria and were treated to a lunch where instead of having to make a line and wait to be served, they got to sit down and relax while we brought their lunch to them.
This day certainly affected the lives of those who attended and took part in the project. Many of the members have already scheduled future dates to come back to Chapman to serve and cook again for the residents. It provided us with feelings of gratitude for how lucky we are to be able to have a warm meal waiting for us each night when we get home. This experience gave us a better understanding of how it is the little things in life that can make all the difference. The initiative also allowed us to make a difference in our community. We could not have asked for a more rewarding experience than getting to help those who are in need.
Kathia & Elizabeth at National Competition
When I first joined FCCLA I was looking for something fun to do afterschool, little did I know that these afterschool meetings would change my life. FCCLA gave me the opportunity to give back to a community through a Chapter Service project I began called Helping Hands for American Heroes. This project focued on our chapter giving back to the homeless veterans to show them how to appreciative we are for their service. After seeing how my project impacted those homeless veterans, I had a feeling of accomplishment I had never felt before. I was proud of how my chapter was able to change someone's life. It changed my life forever, and I owe it all to FCCLA.
Kathia Rivera
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I joined FCCLA my senior year and all the things I learned and experienced throughout the year made me regret not joining it freshman year. I am a sophomore in college now and the countles amount of skills I learned have helped me greatly. I competed in the Chapter Service Display Project that helped homeless veterans. We made 13 quilts and collected items to donate to the veterans such as food, books, hygiene products, and more. Apart from acquiring sewing skills with this project and allowing me to create an everlasting friendship with my partner on the project, we were also able to take this project all the way to nationals where we won GOLD! I am proud to say that FCCLA changed my life immensely and if I could do it all over again, I would!
Elizabeth Gomez