Last Wednesday, FCCLA director Melissa Isaacs and senior/Region IV Vice President of Competitive Events Chelsea Harter traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas, to help manage contests for Region V FCCLA. The event was held at the American Bank Center, where over 2,000 participants attended the conference. Isaacs and Harter ran the Culinary Arts competition for 35 teams.

“Since Chelsea wasn’t competing, she did very well at managing the event,” Isaacs said. “We sorted food for the competitors, kept time, tallied scores, ranked schools, and of course tasted the food. I have done this for 13 years, and this is the third time that she has helped me out in this way.”

Harter got to attend the conference, because as Region IV Vice President of Competitive Events, one the duties of her office, is to work at a meeting other than her own. She helped organize the event, by putting in case studies, insuring judge’s packets were complete, and placing signage.

“This is my second year as a Region IV officer, and last year I volunteered at the Region III meeting, as a room consultant for the job interview STAR event,” Harter said. “This year at the Region V meeting, I helped the competitive event officers by making lead consultant packets and grouping them together. I also volunteered as a room consultant for the Culinary STAR Event.”

Isaacs and Harter both enjoyed being in charge of the culinary competition. Isaacs hopes that next year, Buffalo can enter a Culinary Art team at the region contest.

“It’s always fun seeing the final results of the culinary competition,” Isaacs said. “Each team knows the overall menu, but does not know the individual ingredients that will be used. In the end there are 35 different preparations of each food item. Hopefully next year, Buffalo can enter its first ever Culinary Arts team at the region contest in Galveston.”

Isaacs and Harter were together throughout the entire trip. They ran the Culinary Arts competition together, worked together, and they even hung out together when they had down time.

“I have been involved in FCCLA and FCS for over 25 years and I cherish every moment that I get to spend with amazing students like Chelsea,” Isaacs said. “One of my favorite things from the trip, was going out to eat at Blackbeard’s with all of the State FCCLA staff. Even though we work with this group throughout the year, it is a little blessing getting to sit down and enjoy a meal with one another.”

After highschool, Chelsea plans to follow her passion and pursue a career in Family and Consumer Sciences. She says that attending events like this, will benefit her in the future.

“I learned a lot about the Culinary STAR Event by volunteering as a room consultant, as well as working with Ms. Isaacs” Harter said. “The knowledge/experience I gained from this will definitely help me in the future, because I plan to go to college and get a degree in Family Consumer Sciences. My goal is to become an FCCLA advisor like Ms. Isaacs.”