Students from John Marshall and Century High Schools attended the 2025 Minnesota Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (MN FCCLA) State Conference, a three-day conference in Bloomington, Minnesota that brought together more than 625 attendees and 100 volunteers from 41 schools across the state. Several Rochester Public School students won awards for their projects, earning them passage to the National FCCLA conference in Orlando this July. In total, students competed in 105 different events.
"FCCLA is an essential part of our Family and Consumer Science Departments," said Shelly Spallees-Hansen, John Marshall High School's FCCLA advisor. “Many students have said that the minute they walked into our classrooms, their lives have changed for the better. FCCLA gives students a chance to excel. Some have earned full-ride scholarships to prestigious colleges or universities, while others have been offered internships or opportunities, such as with the Mayor of Rochester’s Office or Rochester RNeighbors Organization, or even serving on committees with the City of Rochester or Olmsted County. These students would not have had these opportunities without the connections that FCCLA has given them.”
FCCLA aims to promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences education. By focusing on roles as family members, wage earners, and community leaders, students build skills for life, including communication, critical thinking, character development, and career readiness. Throughout the conference in Bloomington, students engaged in hands-on career development, participated in competitive events judged by industry professionals and content experts, and attended peer-led workshops and sessions led by nationally recognized speakers. The event fostered personal and professional growth and career development skills, celebrated student and chapter achievements, and provided meaningful networking opportunities for members and advisers.
In addition to competition success, chapters were honored for service projects, national program participation, and membership growth. A number of outstanding individuals were also recognized for their contributions to the organization's success with awards for Advisers, Administrators, and student leaders alike. John Marshall High School's Advisor, Shelly Spallees Hansen, was recognized as a Semi-Finalist for the National FCCLA Adviser of the Year Award, and Century High School’s Advisor, Jill Flores, was honored as an Outstanding New Advisor of the Year.
John Marshall award winners include:
Outgoing State Officer Will Tran (12th grade), honored with the Chapter Spark Award for increasing membership from 12 members to over 30 paid and 50 total members in one year.
Arsieme Feliche (10th grade) won the Outstanding New Member Award.
Kongberi Nsamelah (11th grade ) was elected Vice President of Community Service for MN FCCLA for the upcoming school year.
Manal Mahamoud (11th grade) won Top Gold and National Qualifier in Hospitality and Tourism.
Waithira Mbuthia (10th grade) and Ruby Troung (10th grade ) won top gold and qualified for Nationals in Chapter Service Project Portfolio for their work helping North Carolina FCCLA Chapters by holding a Hurricane Helene Supply Drive in conjunction with Crenlo Manufacturing, Cub Foods, Destiny Church, and Century FCCLA, among other community partners statewide.
Waithira Mbuthia also won top gold and was a National Qualifier in Professional Presentation, where she presented on the risks of screen time and social media usage.
Ruby Troung won top gold and qualified for Nationals in Career Investigation.
Jomanh Sharif (9th grade) won Top Gold and qualified for Nationals in Leadership.
Arsieme Feliche (10th grade) also won Top Gold in two categories and qualified for Nationals in both. She competed in Focus On Children and did a project on teaching about friendship. She also competed in a Professional Presentation in Spotlight on Kids where she did a project about seatbelt use and car seat safety.
Kya Lee (10th grade) won a silver medal for her Professional Presentation on using crochet as a method to handle anxiety.
In addition, Waithira Mbuthia won the FCCLA/Kikkoman Scholarship to spend this summer in Japan, where she will be living with a host family for 6 weeks.
Century award winners include:
Christine Atuti (11th grade) and Zeena Suliman (11th grade) won Silver Awards with their Public Policy Advocacy Project on Period Poverty. This project ensured that our high school followed the state law that schools should supply a certain amount of menstrual products.
Justly Heng (12th grade), Liberty Strenke (11th grade), and Gabbi Morse (12th grade) won Silver Awards with their Professional Presentation on an idea to expand the Teens Offering Peer Support (TOPS) program already running by adding a phone application that offers anonymous peer support for homework and mental health. They are looking for developers to make it happen.
FCCLA National Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of Family and Consumer Science professionals and students across America. Last year, more than 8,000 students from around the country attended.
The RPS FCCLA students are accepting financial donations to help fund their trip to nationals. If you would like to donate, please contact Shelly Spallees-Hanson at shspalleeshansen@rochesterschools.org.
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