Seniors Catlin Dillinger, Madison Rego, and Alana Scofield, members of Stissing Mountain High School’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club, are headed to Orlando next month to present their project at the organization’s National Leadership Conference.
In March, the students’ innovative concept, Career Fair on Wheels, won gold in a statewide Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) event, which acknowledges achievements in leadership skills, career preparation, and FCCLA club projects. At the competition in Callicoon, the three club members took turns explaining their idea to a panel of three judges, then fielded questions.
“I could tell that they liked our project, but I never expected to get to nationals,” Rego said. “We didn’t even find out the results until the next day — we had left early to get to the school band concert.”
The school’s FCCLA adviser, family and consumer sciences teacher Jennifer Blackburn, said the seniors’ brainstormed Career Fair on Wheels last September. “That’s when our 12 club members determine the types of activities we can do to help both the school and local communities,” she said. (For example, the club manages CLYNK, a bottle and can recycling program at the high school, and hosts several pet rescue events at the Pine Plains Lions Club.)
“Catlin, Madison, and Alana were interested in entering the STAR event competition, an optional event,” Blackburn said. Students create a unique project based on one of 30 FCCLA event suggestions, ranging from food innovations to personal finance to public policy advocacy.
“We chose event management,” Rego said. “We were thinking about a way to engage little kids in a career fair. They all love big trucks, and we thought it would be fun to have it outside. So we came up with an original idea — a career fair on wheels.”
Dillinger added, “We decided it would be great to hold the event at Cold Spring Early Learning Center, and get businesses with large vehicles to bring their tow trucks, fire trucks, and garbage trucks to help explain what they do.”
With Blackburn’s help, the three seniors contacted Cold Spring principal Kristen Fischetti to discuss their project. “I thought, what a genius way to introduce the idea of a career to students in an age-appropriate, engaging way,” Fischetti recalled. “I was impressed with the organization and innovation it took to create this event. We even had a few parents asking if we would do this again next year, and the answer to that is yes!”
The trio recruited 10 local businesses for the event on May 2; each was assigned a station on the Cold Spring grounds. Students in pre-K through first grade received a miniature passport, which was stamped at each station. Ronnybrook Farm Dairy provided chocolate milk, and the entire FCCLA club was there to help.
The drone and ATV demonstrations by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Department were popular. “But you should have seen the joy on their faces when the students got to sit on the lawnmower from Scaffidi Lawn Care,” said Fischetti.
The club is trying to raise $4,500 to cover the cost of hotels, meals, and flights for nationals. They have sold market bags filled with donated local produce and asked for contributions from family, friends, teachers, and administrators. Dillinger and Scofield visited local businesses, promising to put the company logo on T-shirts the students will wear at the event. “We drove all over Pleasant Valley, Stanford, and Pine Plains,” said Scofield. “We got 13 businesses to donate.”
The club has raised $3,000. “We just had a fundraiser at the Kingston Chipotle,” Rego said. “We’ll be holding more.” Meanwhile, the team is updating its presentation for the finals to include video and pictures of the actual event.
According to Blackburn, teams don’t compete against one another at the nationals: they are graded based on the the FCCLA rubric. “They don’t get a plaque or money,” she said. “But maybe they’ll win bragging rights.”
Anyone interested in making a donation to help get the team to the Orlando can email j.blackburn@ppcsd.org .