Lynchburg-Clay, Ripley FCCLA chapters earn state awards
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 39 percent of Ohio’s distracted driving crashes since 2018 have involved drivers between ages 15-24. Students in Ohio Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA®) are taking matters into their own hands to make their communities safer, creating teen safe driving campaigns addressing the very real dangers of distracted and impaired driving.
FCCLA® is a Career and Technical Student Organization founded in 1945 with a mission to promote personal growth and leadership development through Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) education. FCCLA®, Inc. has 5,100 chapters and over 240,000 student members nationally, with 275 chapters and over 10,000 members in Ohio FCCLA®.
Through FCCLA®, students engage in FACTS (Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety), a national peer- to-peer education program through which students strive to save lives through personal, vehicle, and road safety. Using integrated classroom lessons FCS educators engage students in FACTS to provide youth with the information and incentives they need to understand what it means to be safe on our roads. FCCLA® members use what they have learned through FACTS lessons to plan and carry out projects that help them, their peers and their community members make informed, responsible decisions about traffic safety.
The FCCLA® FACTS National Program offers FCCLA® members across the nation the opportunity to submit project applications each year, recognizing outstanding achievements in promoting safe driving and responsible behavior on the roads with cash prizes to promote the winning campaigns, sponsored by the Ohio Department of Public Safety partnership.
Columbus hosted the Ohio FCCLA® State Leadership Conference and FACTS Initiative Awards April 25 and 26, at the Ohio Expo Center, Kasich Hall, awarding 10 of the 100 participating Ohio FCCLA® Chapters $2,500 travel stipends at the April 25 ceremony where Makenzie (Mak) Kelley, FCCLA National First Vice President, was the keynote speaker.
The 2024 winning chapters and their campaign themes are:
• Ripley Union Lewis Huntington High School, Ripley - Don't Tempt Fate, that Text can Wait
• Lynchburg-Clay High School, Lynchburg - DD for Teens
• Tri-County North High School, Lewisburg - Distracted Driving is Dangerous
• Black River High School, Sullivan - Just Drive: Pledge for No Distractions Behind the Wheel
• Southeastern Jr./Sr. High School. South Charleston - Southeastern HS Traffic Safety Academy
• Lucas Jr./Sr. High School, Pioneer Career & Technology Center, Lucas - Choices = Consequences
• Great Oaks - Scarlet Oaks ECE Juniors, Cincinnati - Seatbelts Save Lives
• Great Oaks - Scarlet Oaks ECE Seniors, Cincinnati - Safe Driving Week - Distracted Driving
• Fairview High School, Sherwood - No Text is Worth a Death
• Licking Valley High School, Newark - FACTS Distracted Driving Awareness Week.
The Ohio State Leadership Conference is the largest Ohio FCCLA® event of the year with attendees participating in career development, leadership training and service learning as well. Participants proudly wear the FCCLA® red blazer as a symbol of their leadership, professionalism and service to the organization. Over 1,000 students and advisers across the state attended the conference.
“The student members of FCCLA are committed to making an impact among their peers, and we value their perspective on the most effective ways to do that,” said OTSO Director Emily Davidson. “That is why we have always had such a great relationship with FCCLA. These students are leaders in their schools and communities. The best way to create change in our youth is to involve them in it. That is what we have continued to do when it comes to advancing traffic safety priorities like seat belt use and awareness of the dangers of distracted or impaired driving and speeding.”
In the last year, students have made additional impact in their communities by advocating for new turn lane signs in their areas, evaluating safety issues with their school intersections and hosting a Teen Road Safety Assessment. Students have also worked with their local police departments to discuss the dangers of texting and driving, conduct seatbelt checks and provide helmet safety education for those students using off-road vehicles.
About FCCLA®: Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc. (FCCLA) is a dynamic and effective national student organization that helps young men and women become leaders and address important personal, family, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education. FCCLA has over 237,000 members active in a network of over 5,100 chapters across the nation.
FCCLA: The Ultimate Leadership Experience is unique among youth organizations because its programs are planned and run by members. It is the only Career and Technical Student Organization with a central focus on careers that support families. Participation in FCCLA National Programs and chapter activities helps members become strong leaders in their families, careers and communities.
About OTSO: As a division within the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio Traffic Safety Office (OTSO) is dedicated to saving lives and preventing injuries on Ohio’s roads by using creative leadership, innovative education and comprehensive enforcement programs. OTSO strives to work in partnership with local, state and federal entities to advance equity in highway safety programs, ensuring they benefit all road users in Ohio. For FFY2024, OTSO awarded over $23 million in federal funds to 135 Ohio agencies for statewide programming to improve traffic safety and reduce traffic-related fatalities.
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