This post was published on The Odessa Record on May 24, 2018
–Photo courtesy of Terri King.
FBLA members visited the Central Washington University campus April 4. Front row: Kenadie Elder, Caitlyn Schuh, Kaya Kuchenbuch-Curo, Maddie Scrupps, Josie Westmoreland, Ceianne Mankel. Second row: Noah Anderson, Jayd Jennings, Kassidy Crossley, Tori Weishaar, Brenna Carstensen, Maddy Wagner, McKennah Davison, Eric Johnston, Keith Strebeck, Ireland Luiten, Megan Shafer, Emma Caler. Third row: Jakob Starkel, Brady Walter, Pilot Weishaar, Camden Weber, Colton Hunt, Theron Schlomer, Colton Messer and Destiny German. Back row: Jaden Hunt, Jett Nelson, Tim DeWulf, Marcus King and Josh Clark.
Odessa High School has been awarded $10,000 for their school’s nonprofit of choice and $2,000 in technology grants as one of the winners of the Lead2Feed Challenge. Through the Lead2Feed program, Odessa High School students identified the greatest needs of Odessa senior citizens-loneliness, exercise, assistance and nutrition-and addressed these issues by cooking meals, planning social events and hosting exercise classes.
The Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program empowers students to make a difference in their community through team-led projects. In 2018, students partnered with local non-profits, addressing issues such as food insecurity, elderly citizen needs and refugee support. On May 22, 50 student-led middle and high school teams were selected as winners of the sixth annual Lead2Feed Challenge. The top five teams have each earned a $10,000 grant for their school’s nonprofit of choice and a $2,000 technology award for their school. The student-project contest was developed from the Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program, the nation’s leading, privately funded student leadership program, free to the over 5,800 educators in schools and clubs across all 50 states.
Lead2Feed’s leadership lessons align with 21st-century skills to encourage students to develop leadership, literacy and teamwork by completing service learning projects. The lessons work in tandem with classroom curriculum and are then applied as students form teams to brainstorm and create programs to address a specific need in their local community or globally. Across the country, teams have worked to address issues such as hunger, social justice or mental health.
In a survey conducted by Lead2Feed, 91 percent of Americans agree that students are more successful in school when they are able to practice their leadership skills outside the classroom. Co-Founder, former CEO and Chairman of Yum! Brands, and leadership expert, David Novak inspired the program. Lead2Feed was developed by the Foundation for Impact on Literacy and Learning and the Lift a Life Foundation. From the student-led projects submitted for the Lead2Feed Challenge, 50 total teams were selected based on the leadership, innovation and impact students demonstrated to address an important need in the community.
The five grand prize recipient teams are:
Code for Change – Carmel High School, Indiana
CTRL – Fair Grove High School FBLA, Missouri
Food for Peers Anonymous FCCLA – Babb Middle School, Georgia
Leukemia & Lymphoma Lifesavers – The Phoenix School of Discovery, Kentucky
Odessa High School FBLA – Odessa High School, Washington
The above press release from the Lead2Feed Program was followed by a submission from Terri King, advisor at Odessa High School to the local FBLA chapter. King’s comments follow below.
The Odessa High School FBLA chapter has won the Lead2Feed Challenge for the third time in the last four years. In 2013, their “Backpack Project” won $25,000 for their charity 2nd Harvest Food Bank and $10,000 in technology for the school. In 2014, they submitted the “1,500 Meals for Fire Fighters” and won a $20,000 prize which was split between two charities, Okanogan’s Long-term Recovery Group and the Odessa Fire Department, and $5,000 in technology for their school. Last year, the team placed second with their “Toasty Tot” project and won $10,000 for Odessa’s Friends of the Pool and $2,500 in technology for the Odessa School District.
This year, FBLA members put their leadership skills to work and entered the Lead2Feed Challenge with their service project “Operation LEAN On Us,” which focused on Odessa’s senior citizens. This project had four elements. First, members made and sold carameled apples to raise over $1,000. That sum was then used to make and deliver 574 freezer meals. This project was entered into the Spokane Teachers Credit Union’s $100 Contest, where members placed first and won $2,500. This money was then used to sponsor SAIL (Stay Active and Independent for Life) classes, the second element, and Senior Night Out, the third element. Finally, members provided assistance to seniors throughout the community with household needs for the fourth element.
FBLA members will be meeting with mentors from the Odessa Healthcare Foundation, the SAIL classes and also with Odessa Clinic manager Barb Schlimmer to determine the best use of the $10,000 in prize money. In addition, the students will receive $2,000 to purchase technology for the classrooms.
A community celebration will be held May 31 at 12:30 p.m. on the outdoor stage in downtown Odessa, and Odessa’s senior citizens and all who have helped make winning this challenge possible are invited by the FBLA members to attend.
The video submitted as part of the contest requirements can be seen on YouTube by searching Lead2Feed 2018 or by using the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dznmOpuGOFM&t=17s.