It’s been a tremendous year of accolades and amazing accomplishments for the Liberty Middle School Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club members, who culminated the school year by being named the Georgia FCCLA Middle School Chapter of the Year! 

“We are elated to receive the highest honor for a middle school chapter,” said Felicia Hodges, Liberty Middle School FCCLA adviser. “Honestly, that has been our goal every school year. However, every year I explain to the chapter that success is not achieved accidentally. Success is achieved through hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, adapting, sacrifice and, most importantly, the love of what you are doing.”

In addition to the Chapter of the Year award, Hodges received the 2022 Adviser Mentor Award, which recognizes advisers who have been successful in achieving Master Adviser Recognition, devoting two years to new adviser assistance, assuming adult leadership roles in FCCLA, conducting adviser workshops, attending training workshops and using national and state FCCLA resources. 

“I am honored to receive the Adviser Mentor Award,” she said. “It fills my heart with joy to be able to provide new advisers with the resources needed to encourage, enlighten and inspire student leaders to realize the power they have within to make a difference not only in their own lives, but also in the lives of their families and communities.”

According to Hodges, there are over 20,000 Georgia FCCLA members and over 200 Georgia FCCLA chapters and Liberty Middle School’s organization walked away with several of the highest honors from the recent Georgia FCCLA State Leadership Conference, earning them the opportunity to compete at the National FCCLA Leadership Conference in San Diego, California, later this year. 

“I am overjoyed and very proud about my students’ accomplishments,” said Hodges. “Not just because they advanced to Nationals, but also because each team had challenges they faced yet, they made a conscious decision to overcome the challenges and to strive for the gold! I started beaming when I saw the students were stepping into their own power and their true authentic selves as leaders.” 

Liberty Middle School eighth-grader, Zamya Delamar earned the 2022 Region 6 Officer Award. According to Hodges, being a region officer involves a tremendous amount of time, commitment, and responsibility to the organization. The school organization was also named a Stand UP-National Program State Winner and a Georgia FCCLA Honor Roll Program with Distinction. Honor Roll chapters are the most dedicated, committed, involved in all of FCCLA’s programs, events, and activities. 

Several Liberty FCCLA students also brought home gold medals at the recent State Competition and earned the right to compete at the National FCCLA competition. Clarkston Lowe and Nina Ware earned Gold for their Chapter in RRRRDisplay and Tamaya Duncombe and Kylah Thomas brought home gold for their project, “Food Innovations—It’s Buzzin’”. All four also placed first as national qualifiers in the state. In addition, Kanya Kossonou brought home a gold medal for “Entrepreneurship—K & K Cosmetics” and Emily Armendariz and Lauren Parsons teamed up for “Jeans & Things’ in the Repurpose & Redesign category. Kossonou, Armendariz, and Parsons also qualified for the National Competition. Alexcia Delamar competed in the National Online STAR event and qualified to compete at the National Leadership Conference with her project, “Did You Hear What Happened to Olivia” in the Digital Stories for Change category. In addition to the gold awards, Zamya Delamar and Aaliyah Parsons brought home the second place award along with $75 for their project “Digital Delish Dish—The Ooey Gooey Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Mac n Cheese.”

“Liberty’s FCCLA chapter had a very impressive year and I am proud of the hard work put in by our students and their adviser,” said Tim Schmitt, NCSS Director of CTAE and Workforce Innovation. “Student leadership and competitive skill development is a cornerstone of Newton County’s Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education program and Liberty serves as an example for others to follow.”

As Liberty Middle School FCCLA members prepare for their trip to the National Leadership Conference, the program is seeking donations and sponsorships to help offset the cost of the trip. The team has estimated they will need $1,200 per FCCLA member to fully fund this exciting endeavor. Anyone interested in sponsoring a member and/or the chapter should contact Felicia Hodges at hodges.felicia@newton.k12.ga.us or Schmitt at schmitt.tim@newton.k12.ga.us.