Last week, FCCLA officers and food science classes traveled to the First Baptist church to carve and decorate pumpkins with three and four year olds.

“The point of the project was to not only explore the insides of the pumpkin also to have one on one interaction with the young people there,” FCCLA advisor Melissa Isaacs said. “It’s always important for our school to have a presence in the community, and this is one tradition that was started many years ago.”

At the church, each high school student was paired with a preschooler. Each pair of students would pick out a pumpkin start the exploration process.

“The older kids were paired with big pumpkins – and got to guide their high school partner with the knife and dig the insides out of the pumpkin,” Isaacs said. “The smaller pumpkins and younger kids painted.”

When involved in FCA and FCCLA programs, interacting, creating relationships and gaining communication skills are all important skills.

“I am the youngest in my family, and I do not have any younger cousins,” junior Mykayla Dennix said. “It was nice to carve pumpkins with kids, even if it was for community service.”

Early in the summer while officers were at camp, FCCLA decided to have a community service event every month of the year.

“I think it is great that we are doing community service every month,”  FCCLA officer Dylan Cornish said. “We have also collected school supplies for hurricane harvey victims.”