During this time Family, Career and Community Leaders of America adviser Heide Rippert is usually preparing her club members to compete in State competition, however due to many setbacks this year only five students are going to State, none of which are competing.

“This year we haven’t had as much involvement — part of that is because everyone is so busy in so many things, the other part is November and December my father-in-law was in the hospital so it made it hard to have meetings and hard to keep students motivated who weren’t self motivated,” Rippert said.

On top of having her father hospitalized for two months, Rippert was also pregnant and gone on maternity leave for six weeks, creating further conflict in trying to ready her crew for districts — which nobody ended up competing in. The girls who are going will take part in leadership events and also help with judging STAR events and work as timers and runners.

“While I was on maternity leave all I had to keep up with students was text messaging and I set up a day to meet with my long term sub, so I arranged for them to come in the same day to get their permission slips done,” Rippert said.

“It’s tough for me [not having anyone competing]. Last year we had just one compete at districts and this year we haven’t had as many and it’s just trying to figure out why and how to rebuild FCCLA,” Rippert said.

“We have [had a lot of members quit] but it was because of some unfortunate happenings with a couple of members that were leaders in the organization so we have to rebuild the leadership of our chapter next year,” Rippert said. Despite all setbacks Rippert remains optimistic about the future of FCCLA.

“I’m hoping students will gain leadership skills that they can use. The freshman and sophomores will hopefully be some of our chapter officers next year and they will bring back experience and information they can use next year and hopefully help recruit and be excited about things they can offer in the future,” Rippert said.