Students and staff members alike from the Forrest County Agricultural High School in Brooklyn spent the summer collecting awards at competitions around the country. At the Sept. 12 meeting of the FCAHS school board, many of them appeared before the board to be recognized for their accomplishments.
Carol Boykin, the school’s FCCLA sponsor (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), introduced Aliyah Eaton. Eaton was recently named an FCCLA state officer, “the first ever from FCAHS,” Boykin said.
In June/July, Eaton attended leadership training and workshops at the FCCLA’s National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, Ca.
In the next few weeks, Eaton will also be speaking with Mississippi’s legislators in Washington, D.C., “about the impact federal policies and laws have on our local schools and communities, and all of the positive things that are happening [in FCAHS’s] Career and Technical Education, in Family and Consumer Sciences, and in the FCCLA,” said Erik Shows, director of the school’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program.
Cherish McGee, sponsor of FCAHS’s SkillsUSA group, introduced three new student officers to that organization. There are only nine officers in the entire state, she said, so to have three from one school is quite unusual. The three from FCAHS are Niya Mcnair, Mayra Solano, and Diamond Burkett.
These three students, along with other state SkillsUSA officers, will be traveling to the Washington Leadership Training Institute in Alexandria, Va., next week, Sept. 21-25.
According to their Web site, SkillsUSA “offers advanced training for students and advisors [focusing] on professionalism, communication and leadership skills.” These students’ training will also include Congressional visits and tours of the Washington, D.C., area.
McGee also introduced four other students from FCAHS, who competed at the SkillsUSA Quiz Bowl at the national competition in Louisville, Ky. They earned seventh place in the nation.
Those students were Max Mcphail, Sheldon Holley, Jade-Marie Burge, and Mayra Solano.
Judy Grice, the school’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals sponsor (HOSA is the Health Occupations Students of America) introduced four students whose team won first place at the HOSA state conference in the creative problem-solving event. The team consisted of Abbie Graham, Tanner Graham, Kylee Kearley, and Ethan Watts.
At the same conference, Jenna Meyers won first place in the Home Health Aide competition.
All of these students went on to compete at the HOSA International Leadership Conference at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. There, Jenna Meyers placed in the top 25 percent in the home health aide skills competition, Grice said.
Grice herself was awarded the Health Science teacher of the year award for the state of Mississippi at the Mississippi Association for Career and Technical Education (MSACTE) conference this summer. She is also in the running for the MSACTE overall teacher of the year award, Shows said.
Mary Helen Lett, the school’s Future Farmers of America sponsor, presented seven students who as a team “won first place in the ‘conduct of chapter meetings’ event at the state FFA convention.”
“They were required to conduct official FFA opening and closing ceremonies and to demonstrate fundamental parliamentary procedure concepts,” Lett said, after which one of the students offered to demonstrate the concepts to the school board. Board members politely and laughingly declined.
The students on that team were: Alyssa Murry, Allie Morse, Gracie Shows, Justin Hooper, Brittany Walters, Morgan Lee, and Hope Ladner.
Lett, in addition to sponsoring the FFA team, was also one of six national winners of the National Association of Agricultural Education’s “Outstanding Early Career Teacher” award.
She also recently graduated with her specialist degree in educational leadership from Arkansas State University, Shows said.
“We have great teachers and students in our FCAHS Career Technical Education programs,” he continued. “This is just a small example of some of the accomplishments and awards our students have earned recently.
“We are lucky to have a superintendent and school board who give us support, so we can help our students be prepared for their future.”
