By Doug La Rocque
Ariana Hendricks of Berlin will begin her freshman year at Berlin Central this September, but she is already learning what it takes to be a successful and vibrant member of her community. Hendricks recently traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to take part in the National Family Career and Community Leaders of America conference. Each student had to prepare a presentation chosen from a number of different categories. Inspired by the new Aquafarm in her hometown, she decided to give the growing of vegetables in water a try. She acquired a fish tank, and using Styrofoam cutouts, planted a number of different seeds. Some failed, but several others did well enough to earn Ariana a Silver Medal in the competition.
The FCCLA is a national career and technical student organization with the family as its central focus. Formed in 1945, the FCCLA has more than 160,000 members in 47 states.
Hendricks said she met many other students from around the country who share similar ideas and values, and plans to stay in touch as she grows through the program with hopes of becoming a state leader in the organization in two years. Tammy Osterhout is the adult supervisor for the Berlin program. She said one of the unique points about it is that while they are there to advise the students, it is the students themselves who make all the decisions as to how the program is run. This helps them gain life experience, decision making skills and understanding of the consequences of their decisions as they grow to be mature members of their community.
While Hendricks was the only member of the Berlin group to travel to the national conference, many others joined her last week at the State Conference at the State University of New York in Oneonta. The group holds a number of different fundraisers thoughout the year to pay for their travel.