Welcome to a new year of school and FCCLA! We hope that you’ve had a restful summer and a great start with your students and chapters. As an adviser, you play a very important part in our organization, serving as a motivator, encourager, organizer, coach, and mentor for your mem-bers. We couldn’t do what we do without you! Thank you for your dedication to the organization and to today’s teens.

We’re excited to unveil the new theme for this year:

EMPOWER The theme speaks to making the right choices and com-mitting yourself to making a positive impact within your family, your school, FCCLA, and your community. The logo that accompanies this theme shows the reverse “mepow-er” to illustrate that the power to achieve this impact lies within all of us. We’ll use this theme throughout the year for our meetings and publications. For this issue of The Adviser, we’ll check out how we can empower each other through service.

The EMPOWER theme also helps us live out our organization’s mission.

FCCLA Mission: To promote personal growth and leadership develop-ment through Family and Consumer Sciences education. Focusing on the multiple roles of family member, wage earner, and community leader, members develop skills for

life through character development, creative and critical thinking, interpersonal communication, practical growth, and career preparation.

So, advisers, how will you empower yourself and others through your involvement in FCCLA this year? Set your sights high, make concrete plans, and discover what it means to be an empowered leader through FCCLA! We look forward to a fantastic year partnering with you.

October 2015

In this issue…Empower ......................................1

Executive Director Letter ............2

Growth Mindset ...........................3

Starting a Successful Year ..........4

Student Body ...............................5

Say Yes to FCS ............................6

Connecting Service to the Curriculum ...................................7

Get Growing with National Programs .....................................8

National Cluster Meetings ...........9

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The Adviser | October 2015

The Adviser is published by Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc.® as a recognition and resource tool for chapter advisers.

Sandy SpavoneExecutive DirectorAshley PournarasCommunications ManagerCaitlin OsbourneCommunications and Membership AssistantJosh BowarEditoral Consultant

Julie KettnerDesign Consultant

The Adviser may be reprinted, excerpted, or photocopied accompanied by the following statement: Reprinted with permission from The Adviser, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc.®

We welcome comments, suggestions, and reports. Send to The Adviser at:

National FCCLA 1910 Association Drive Reston, VA 20191-1584 (703) 476-4900 • FAX (703) 860-2713 www.fcclainc.org Email: inbox@fcclainc.org

Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc.®

Leadership NotesWelcome back, advisers! As we wrap up a very exciting summer, we are so excited about the 2015-2016 school year and the fantastic opportunities that this year will hold for Family and Consumer Sciences and FCCLA. This is a fantastic time for Career and Technical Education and the work of Family and Consumer Sciences. The time for the focus to be on the family and preparing our youth for success in their careers and communities has never been more clear and relevant both in and out of the classroom. As we focus on the theme EMPOWER/MEPOWER this year, we know that the power to empower is within you, our FCCLA chapter advisers. The 2015 National Leadership Conference hit a new record in attendance with nearly 8,000 attendees. As we celebrated FCCLA’s 70th anniversary with a “Seventy Years Strong” rally on Capitol Hill, youth and advisers rallied to showcase the power of Family and Consumer Sciences education and FCCLA. We were honored to have several notable speakers and proud of our youth who blanketed every office in both the House and Senate with informational visits. On July 8, FCCLA was complimented on the floor of a House Session for the polite behavior of our members and their powerful CTE message. We are grateful for all who made the investment of time and funds to be part of the 2015 National Leadership Conference and hope to see many of you in San Diego in July 2016.I hope you have had a chance to review or attend a workshop on the newly updated Student Body program. As we work to update the FCCLA programs, we began with Student Body, and many of you assisted us in determining the topics to cover as well as serving as volunteer subject matter experts. Through your assistance and insight, we built a new resource that includes lesson plans, peer-to-peer education ideas, brand new topics and data, and crosswalks to STEM and FACS national standards. Be sure to watch the daily Fast Facts newsletters for highlights about this new program.After our first year with the new affiliation database, we learned what worked (and worked well) and which parts of the system that we need to improve. When you log back in to affiliate your chapter this year, we hope you find a great system that is even better than last year and a database that assists us all in tracking our membership and growing our outreach and impact from where we are now to a stronger membership record. Please be sure to look at the new tab that includes your state’s dates and rates as well as your state adviser contact information. We are continuing to build the membership database to be more robust and meet the needs of FCCLA.Another project updated this year was the FCCLA website. The new site is mobile friendly and provides current information and continuous social media updates. We hope that you find the site easy to navigate and useful in and out of your classroom. Additionally, the FCCLA 365 app is the mobile resource that is used not only for confer-ences and meetings but also throughout the year for Teen Times and other essential resources. Be sure to download the app from your phone’s app store and encourage your members to do the same.Finally, we are excited to announce a new opportunity just for FCCLA chapter advis-ers. We are piloting two Chapter Adviser Summits that will be held at FCCLA national headquarters in Reston, VA, in October and February. The dates and details on how to register are listed in the Fast Facts newsletters. We hope you are able to attend! Each meeting will be on a first-come basis, capped at 40 attendees, to help us navigate and build a professional development opportunity specifically for FCCLA chapter advisers.So get ready for an exciting year, and be sure to share your chapter’s highlights by sending photos and captions to communications@fcclainc.org so we can spotlight your chapter. I hope this year is full of opportunities for each of you to EMPOWER your members and take the time to invest in MEPOWER, too! I admire each of you and hope to get to meet many of you throughout this year.Sandy SpavoneExecutive Director

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The Adviser | October 2015

As you begin reading this article, what’s your mindset? What thoughts have gone through your head today? What thoughts are going through your head right now?Let’s think a little more about mind-sets and what goes through our minds. Take a few minutes to com-plete the mindset quiz by clicking here.What did you find out? What you fig-ured? Surprised? Not even close? Thinking about our mindset and chal-lenging students to do the same is a very empowering experience. It helps us learn more about ourselves, which can help us understand ways that we can better empower ourselves and others.You may have heard about something called a “growth mindset”, which is based on the research by Carol Dweck. Dweck asserts, “It’s not about where you are now. It’s about where you’re committed to going.”There are two mindsets that have a MAJOR impact on our ability to learn, grow, and achieve our goals.Having a growth mindset means you believe that your skills and intelligence are things that can be developed and improved.Having a fixed mindset means you believe that your skills and intelligence are set and can’t be changed.The research shows that the growth mindset is what fosters grit, de-termination, and work ethic within students, athletes, and people of all ages.So how thirsty are you? Check out the video to find out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=24&v=wOLQtQqJ9UACarol Dweck’s extensive research of the topic also shows that people with a growth mindset learn, grow, and achieve more than people that have fixed mindsets. We all know people

FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSETLeads to a desire to look smart Desires Leads to a desire to learn

Something you’re born with Fixed

Skills Come from hard work Can always improve

Something to avoid Could reveal a lack of skill or talentTend to give up easily

Challenges Should be embracedAn opportunity to growMore persistent

Not necessarySomething you do when you aren’t good enough

Effort Essential to growA path to mastery

Get defensiveTake things personally

Feedback UsefulSomething from which to learnIdentify areas to improve

Blame othersGet discouragedFeel defeated

Setbacks Use as a wake-up call to work harder next time or try something new/do something differentlyTakes responsibility

Feel threatened Success of Others

Find lessons and inspiration

Learned helplessness Attitudes Grit

...continued on page 6

Go For The GrowthGo For The Growth

who have more of a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. We have a pretty good idea of where we are ourselves. How can we encourage our students

and chapter members to have a growth mindset? Check out the table and video to find out.

Instead of Thinking This... Try Thinking This...

I’m not good at this. What am I missing?

I give up. I’ll try a different strategy.

It’s good enough. Is it really the best that I can do?

This is too hard. This may take some time and more effort.

I made a mistake. Mistakes help me learn and imporove.

I can’t do this. I will train my brain to be able to do this.

I’ll never be that smart. I will learn how to do this.

Someone else is so much better at this than me.

I’ll learn from them.

I’m either good at it, or I’m not. I can learn anything I want to.

When I fail, I’m no good. When I fail, I learn.

I want to make sure I succeed. I want to make sure I stretch myself and learn.

I’m interested in outcomes. I’m interested in the process.

I want to hide my problems and mistakes I’m open about my mistakes.

Our organization is all about growth. In fact, the beginning of our mission statement demonstrates a growth mindset.

To promote personal growth and lead-ership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education. We don’t expect anyone to be fully

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The Adviser | October 2015

As another year in FCCLA begins, advisers explore ways to improve. It is the dream and goal of chapter advis-ers everywhere to make our chapters stronger and to make the management of them more efficient, which, accord-ing to Joline Dunbar, comprehensive adviser representative to the national board of directors, can be done si-multaneously. She shares, “This year’s EMPOWER theme is the perfect place to start!”

Strong chapters have officers who lead and advisers who support them. Karin Davis, occupational chapter adviser board representative, emphasizes the importance of the adviser. “Advisers are the backbone to our organization,” shared Davis. “Advisers assist with creating the chapter’s vision and sup-port the goals of the chapter. Being the adviser also means that you are the catalyst for developing the future to move the chapter forward.”

Karin stresses that there are three very important organizational topic areas that need to be met at all times. Fol-lowing these tips will make your life as an adviser a lot easier.

CommunicationCommunication is the key to any relationship, and it is identified as one of the most critical leadership skills. Through consistent and positive com-munication, an adviser can develop a bond with administration. Developing a bond with your administration is im-portant. Davis shares, “Administrative support means you have an advocate for your program and someone who will work with you to help you provide

the best experiences possible for your students.”

Prioritizing Your TasksEffective teachers are very good at prioritizing. There are many times when advisers have multiple FCCLA activities and projects that require their attention, and a checklist is helpful in eliminating confusion. Prioritize the list! Once you have prepared an order of activities to be accomplished, you can then apply the needed effort and resources so that the project or activity is finished in a timely manner.

Workplace OrganizationIf your desk and room is full of clut-ter, you’re projecting disorganization to your students. This organizational chaos can cause important files and documents to be misplaced, which is a time waster. Make sure to keep important documents in trays and folders. Develop a system that works for you, and follow it consistently. Documents that have piled up over the months and are of little significance should be removed from your desk and filed away. “Remember, students learn how to be a leader by example,” includes Davis.

Once you have yourself organized, your focus should move to the stu-dents. Dunbar believes that empow-ering members invites success. A famous leadership quote by Orin Woodward puts the role of the chapter adviser in true perspective: “Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar.” By being the inspiration

and not the doer, more gets done and your chapter becomes stronger. She suggests these tips to help you start your year by turning over more tasks to chapter officers and members and empowering them to succeed.

1. Officer training gets the chapter ready for a successful year.

Selecting officers in the spring of the previous year allows them to brain-storm, plan, and organize before the year starts. Empower your officer team by allowing them to assume responsi-bilities. Allow the president to plan and conduct officer training. During training sessions, officers can update bulletin boards with the theme for the year and brainstorm project ideas. Individual of-ficers can team up to assume leader-ship roles on national programs and work together to plan a comprehensive membership campaign. They can also prepare to introduce the upcom-ing year of activities and projects to chapter members. The adviser should listen, advise, and praise. Recognition and appreciation for their hard work keeps chapter officers inspired to do more.

2. Officers plan and conduct member orientation.

New member orientation should happen within the first few weeks of school. The earlier, the better! Holding a beginning-of-the-year kickoff al-lows officers to educate members on opportunities in leadership, national programs, community service, com-petitive events, recognition, and travel while giving them a basic knowledge of what FCCLA is at the same time.

101Starting a Successful Year

Submitted by Karen Davis & Joline DunbarNational Board of Directors Chapter Adviser Representatives

...continued on page 8

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The Adviser | October 2015

FCCLA is excited to announce a resource that will empow-er both you and your students: an UPDATED and FRESH Student Body national program guide!

What’s Student Body? It’s a national FCCLA peer educa-tion program that helps young people discover and prac-tice how to be healthy, fit, real, and resilient. Its goals are to:

• help young people make informed, responsible deci-sions about their health;

• provide youth opportunities to teach others; and • encourage youth to develop and continue healthy

lifestyles, as well as communication and leadership skills.

Student Body projects relate to four topic areas (divided into four easy-to-use and resource-filled classroom units):

The Healthy You Explore nutrition, healthy snacks, sleep, healthy habits, consequences of negative behaviors, and more.

The Fit You Take action related to lifelong fitness, injury prevention, relaxation, and more.

The Real You Choose a healthy lifestyle by taming fears, being aware of disorders, understanding family history, and more.

The Resilient You Focus on mood choice, emotional intelligence, positive relationships, body image, stress management, and more.

Each unit is made with you, the classroom teacher, and the student in mind, including:

• Introductory information about the unit’s topic• Pre- and post-tests • Printable handouts • Classroom activities, mini-lessons, and projects • Helpful links • Several subtopics • Resources (including technology) • Peer-to-peer contribution • Integrating family, career, and community • Project ideas • Lesson plans, which link to STAR Events, STEM, and

FACS national standards • Careers and employability ideas

Also included in the updated version of Student Body are workshops related to each of the units, printable materials related to Student Body as a whole, supplemental materi-als, kick-off activities, and more!

With updated activities, information, links, lesson plans, handouts, games, and tools, Student Body is a great addi-tion to your FACS classroom and FCCLA chapter.

Get your copy today by heading to the FCCLA Store!

The Healthy, Fit, Real, and Resilient You! HEALTHYFIT

REALRESILIENT

Did you know that when you shop on Flipcause,

you can actually benefit FCCLA? When you visit the FCCLA website,

click “Support FCCLA” at the bottom of the page and then select “Online

Shopping”. A portion of every purchase made will go directly to FCCLA!

Or donate to FCCLA by

visiting this link:http://flipca.us/1uu30ae

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The Adviser | October 2015

Submitted by Sandy SpavoneExecutive Director

Take a moment and think about the path that led you to becoming a Family and Consumer Sciences educator. What inspired you? Was it a career path that included top-ics we teach in Family and Consumer Sciences courses? Was it the fact that you knew this job would be an easy task to take on and you could balance your family and career? Maybe it was the wonderful summer vacations? Or maybe the great hours and pay? Perhaps it was working in schools where your area of curriculum is seen as essential for successful state testing?

Or maybe not…

Perhaps you said yes to FCS and to FCCLA because you were influenced by an amazing Family and Consumer Sciences educator. You saw the impact and witnessed the dedication of an educator that sincerely cared about you and your wellbeing, and you wanted to become part of a legacy of educators who touch student’s lives. Maybe your talents and life skills led you to a path to teach others. Or, perhaps you sought a career that you knew would make a positive impact on today’s family and society.

In the past few weeks I have had the honor to meet so many of you who have said yes to FCS. Your dedication and commitment to your students and FCCLA are inspi-rational. I know your days are long, and I know you spend more time than you ever dreamed you would to provide excellence in your classroom and with your FCCLA chap-

ter. You are a foundation for the success of the lives you get to touch every day as a Family and Consumer Scienc-es educator, and we at FCCLA are so very grateful for each and every one of you.

Now is the time for every Family and Consumer Sciences educator to reach a student and help them see that you have the greatest job on earth. They are watching you and either learning that your job is too tough to even consider or that you have a job they would love. Yearly, our country celebrates “take your child to work” day, but every day you take your students to work. They are watching you and seeing either that you love what you do (and they are inspired to follow your path) or that you focus on the diffi-culties of your job (and they have no desire to suffer as you do). The teacher shortage is real, and some programs are closing because they cannot fill classrooms with educa-tors. As you live and spend hours with potential future FCS educators, we need each one to reach one. Make your job THE job they want by focusing on the positive work you do and the impact you have on society and young people.

Resources to help you implement Say Yes to FCS in your classroom – including posters, lesson plans, interactive maps, logos, and more – are available at http://www.nasafacs.org/teacher-recruitment-say-yes-to-fcs.html. We hope you make it a point this year to recruit your students to help fill the Family and Consumer Sciences educator pipeline, so that in the future we can run a feature called “She/He Said Yes to FCS”!

developed, fully grown. What we can expect is that everyone can be ready to learn and grow. We expect you to stretch beyond your comfort zone and take reasonable risks—not to play it safe, do the same thing you’re good at over and over, and stay in your comfort zone. Mix a growth mindset with high ex-pectations and a positive attitude, and

we’ll definitely have a year of empow-erment through FCCLA!Check out more resources related to a growth mindset, helpful tools that you can use in your classroom and with your FCCLA chapter.•Mindset: The New Psychology of

Success by Carol Dweck• Mindsets in the Classroom: Building

a Culture of Success and Student

Achievement in Schools by Mary Cay Ricci

• Ready-to-Use Resources for Mindsets in the Classroom: Everything Educa-tors Need for School Success by Mary Cay Ricci

• www.trainugly.com/mindset• www.mindsetonline.com• www.mindsetworks.com

Continued from page 3...

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The Adviser | October 2015

FCCLA is Social and Mobile!

Connect with FCCLA’s multiple social media accounts to stay up-to-date on various proj-ects and initiatives, be reminded of deadlines,

and much more. Also, don’t forget to download our FCCLA 365 mobile app! Search for “FCCLA

365” in your app store or submit your cell phone number at this link to receive a download link

directly to your phone via text message.

facebook.com/NationalFCCLA

@NationalFCCLA

@NationalFCCLA

pinterest.com/NationalFCCLA

fcclaleadership.tumblr.com

youtube.com/NationalFCCLA1945

Connecting Service to the CurriculumWhat’s one way that you can empower your members through your curriculum? Service-learning!

Service-learning integrates course content with relevant community service. Through assignments and class dis-cussions in the Family and Consumer Science classroom, students reflect on service and increase their understand-ing of course content. Through their involvement in proj-ects, students become connected with their communities and develop a sense of civic responsibility. The end result is students who are engaged in the curriculum and more involved in their communities. It’s a win-win situation!

FCCLA is the catalyst that brings it all together. Develop-ing a program of work that focuses on providing service benefits everyone involved. Classroom content provides information needed to develop projects, members are actively involved and learning valuable 21st century skills, and partnerships are formed with sponsoring agencies and businesses. The national program Leadership Service in Action is a perfect choice for engaging students in service projects. Chapter members choose a focus and develop a plan to address a critical need in the community. They apply knowledge gained in Family and Consumer Science classes to develop projects to address those needs.

Why is service-learning important? Students who learn to give back are also on the receiving end of service-learning. Working together in a community provides students with valuable networking opportunities and possible con-nections to future employment. College and scholarship applications that include strong evidence of community involvement showcase students who are well-rounded and possess strong people skills. The culminating result is valuable experience, successful projects, assistance for your community, and students developing life skills.

Reflection and processing are important parts of service-learning. Make sure to use the FCCLA Planning Process to include reflection and follow up that ensures that students realize the full impact of what they have learned and how they apply that knowledge.

The possibilities are endless with service-learning and FCCLA. Don’t forget to also include a project supporting the National Outreach Program Lead2Feed! To learn more about Lead2Feed, check out the FCCLA website.

Let the empowerment begin!

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The Adviser | October 2015

Get Growing with National ProgramsWhat’s another way to empower your members through FCCLA? National programs!

National programs are more than just something to do. They can be the reason FCCLA chapters grow, thrive, and succeed. They can empower!

A perfect example is the Brookings FCCLA chapter in South Dakota. Brookings FCCLA did not exist until the 1996-97 school year. Only one member of the original group who signed up that first year had any idea what FCCLA (FHA at that time) was all about.

To make things easier to understand and to help the group focus, adviser Joline Dunbar encouraged them to work on just two national programs. The original 35-member chapter chose FACTS and Families First and planned and carried out a program of work focused on just those programs. The guideline they started with and still follow today is that they do not include any activity if it does not fall under a national program.

The plan was successful, as the chapter received national program awards in both programs. In addition, members won two state STAR Events and advanced to national competition. In all, they took a total of 12 chapter mem-bers to receive the awards, compete in STAR Events, present two national program award workshops, and participate in Spotlight on Projects in San Diego, CA.

The rest is history. In 18 years, membership has grown to over 150 in three separate chapters. They have won a total of 18 national program awards, 24 STAR Events have advanced to national level competition, and they are proud to have had three national officers, including cur-rent National President Josh Sorbe.

National programs are more than just one more thing that FCCLA has to offer. Work with officers to identify the pro-grams that best fit your school and community’s needs, present them to your members and ask them to brain-storm project ideas that relate to the focuses of those programs, and develop a balanced program of work to carry out those ideas. In the spring of the year, don’t for-get to complete a national award application.

When your chapter members are recognized for all they have done in the national program, each of them will feel the pride of being part of something great. They will feel empowered!

Showing members how they can get involved and al-lowing them to sign up for leadership positions early gets them on board. The orientation should be a fun night with a lot of one-on-one contact where members choose the things that interest them the most. This gives officers a place to showcase the chapter and get mem-bers involved. Throwing in some great incentives like a taco bar or a make-your-own-sundae table doesn’t hurt either!

3. Officers plan a balanced program of work.Encouraging officers and members to follow a balanced program of work helps a chapter stay focused and achieve success. Include as many national programs in your projects as possible, or focus your year on just one or two. “One rule our chapter has is that we don’t do any project or activity that we can’t connect to a na-tional program,” shares Dunbar. “Members and officers work together to plan a balanced program of work that reflects the mission and purposes of FCCLA. Following that rule also helps members understand how they can make a difference through their involvement in FCCLA.”

Through providing leadership training, optimizing op-portunities, and empowering members, your FCCLA chapter can look forward to a great year!

Consider this quote from John Maxwell: “Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” Now substitute “advisers” for “leaders” and you have the perfect quote to inspire you this year as you work to improve your chapters. Display this quote where you can see it every day as a reminder to take every opportunity to turn the reins of decision making, activity planning, and member inspiring over to your officers...and sit back and watch them grow!

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The Adviser | October 2015

National Cluster Meetings

Family and Consumer Science Division(FCCLA) The AdvisorSpring 2015TA1503

TA1503

Get ready to empower yourself and others at this year’s National Cluster Meetings!

Held this year in Dallax, TX, and Indianapolis, IN, from November 20-22, National Cluster Meetings are a great opportunity for your chapter to compete in Skill Demonstration Events, attend leadership and program work-shops, register for Leadership Academy, hear two national speakers, meet the National Executive Council, visit the exhibitor and college expo, and impact a city with FCCLA power. Don’t miss out on these great meetings!

To register and learn more, head to http://fcclainc.org/meetings/national-cluster-meetings-ncm.php.

One thing we need as an organization is members. Where would we be without them? We need their strength, their ideas, and their passion to empower both themselves and others!

So what’s the difference between being a comprehensive member or an occupational member? It all depends on the Family and Consumer Sciences program in which they are enrolled.

When a student is classified as a comprehensive mem-ber, they’re taking or have taken courses in FACS that are broad in scope and content related to the many areas of FACS. Being a comprehensive member may start as early as 6th grade, depending on the school or state. Some stu-dents can be a comprehensive FCCLA member for seven years if they join as a 6th grader and continue on until they graduate from high school.

Occupational members are students who have or are cur-rently taking courses to prepare them for entry-level or advanced careers.These are students who are enrolled in specialized courses in their career major to prepare them for the future. The classifications of occupational programs vary state by state. The career preparation areas consist of Apparel Design, Interior Design, Culinary and Hospitality Management, Early Childhood Education, and Travel and Tourism. Occupational programs vary by program and with the types of students in them. Some have only students that are in high school, while some are mixed with high school and adult students.

For more information about occupational and comprehen-

Comprehensive vs. Occupational: What’s the Difference?sive membership in your state, contact your state adviser.

Being a member of FCCLA, no matter what type, definitely provides the Ultimate Leadership Experience!

Knowledge Matters

In March 2016, Knowledge Matters, the leading provider of cloud-based education simulations for business and personal finance, will sponsor the FCCLA Virtual Business Challenge Pilot Competitive Event. Their program, Virtual Business – Personal Finance, will be the basis for the competition, and the first-place team for the pilot competition will be awarded $500. The team will also be recognized on the Knowledge Matters website. The pilot competitive event will be open to all FCCLA chapters in Spring 2016.

Virtual Business – Personal Finance helps students understand financial literacy. Students learn key personal financial skills and demonstrate competence in an online simulated world. Lessons include education and advancement, choosing and balancing a checking account, paying taxes, risk vs. re-turn, and an introduction to investing. Virtual Business – Personal Finance also meets multiple Com-mon Core requirements in both mathematics and English language arts.

John Prchal, an instructor in the Wichita Falls Independent School District in Wichita Falls, Texas, says, “When Knowledge Matters introduced Virtual Business – Personal Finance, I knew this simula-tion was a winner and would provide necessary life skills for students. Taxes, insurance, online bank-ing, time management, finding an apartment, buying a car, buying a condo, finding a job, continue your education for a better job, and more are included.”

The FCCLA Virtual Business Challenge will be fully implemented in 2016-2017. The 1st and 2nd round challenges will receive Knowledge Matters t-shirts and website recognition. For the National Leader-ship Conference competition, website recognition as well as cash prizes of $1000 (1st place), $500 (2nd place), and $250 (3rd place) will be awarded.

For more information, visit www.knowledgematters.com.

Coming This Year: A New Opportunity for FCCLA Members!