duPont Manual’s Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club strives to better both themselves and the lives of the people around them through special self and community improvement projects. Members, working either by themselves or in pairs, created their very own projects in various categories, such as Interpersonal Communication, Early Childhood, and Fashion Construction. Recently, members presented their projects at the FCCLA Regional competition. Ten groups from Manual were able to take first place in their categories, and five others won second place. These students competed against participants from Jefferson, Bullit, Spencer, Shelby, Henry, and Tremble counties in Kentucky.

Bianca Blakely (11) won first place in the Interpersonal Communications Category by creating a campaign to teach teenagers how to better communicate with their parents. She made flyers and public speeches to share her techniques with students. Blakely feels that she gained something valuable through the experience. “Teaching others about how to communicate made me realize how to communicate better with my own parents,” she said.

Hannah Botts (11) and Layla Shmeidler, two Juniors in the MST magnet, won first place in the Applied Technology category. They created a website, www.cloning101.webstarts.com which explores the concepts of cloning and genetic engineering, as well as their potential impact on families and communities. “A lot of people hace preconceived notions about what cloning is, but ding this project gave us a better idea about the future of families,” said Botts. The site also features a video interview of Manual teacher Glenn Zwanzig (Science), as well as a pro and con list detailing the good and bad possible effects of human cloning.

Emma Roberson (12), was able to win in the fashion construction category with her use of Manual flair. Roberson made a dress entirely from flyers used to decorate the school during Manual’s Red White Spirit week.

The club’s supervisor, Robin Cash (Life Ski said she was “very proud of all the hard work these students have put in.” Students will compete again next year and continue to strive to improve their communities through education.