October 26, 2017 — The Badger FCCLA, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, have been very busy this October. They started with working two days at Lake Geneva Oktoberfest. On Saturday, October 7 members worked for three hours setting up the main stage area. The second day members worked the bounce houses for three hours. This was an opportunity for the members to work for a community event which emphasizes one of the organization's purposes encourage individual and group involvement in helping achieve global cooperation and harmony.
The next activity that the FCCLA did was to recognize the local farm industry by participating in the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch. On October 12, Badger High joined other schools, preschools, colleges across the Great Lakes Region in celebrating
National Farm to School Month by crunching into Hafs Road Orchard apples in celebration of the third annual Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch. The FCCLA chapter contacted Hafs Road Orchard, a local apple orchard, to order 8 cases of approximately 800 locally grown apples. The FCCLA members cut up four cases of apples that would be handed out at lunch time with caramel sauce. Students that didn’t want caramel were offered whole apples. The students had the opportunity to crunch on yellow delicious, empire, and fuji apples. The chapter ended up having 300 apples that they donated to the FFA event that hosted the 300 third graders in a Agri Science exploratory.
The FCCLA members, on Friday October 13 were then off to the Wisconsin Leadership Academy which was held in Madison at the American Family Conference Center. At this event the chapter members had the opportunity to be !nspired by Wisconsin FCCLA regional representatives and council executive officers on how to raise the bar in their chapter. The sessions that they could choose from focused on the following areas: accomplishments, connections, future, confidence, leadership, and healthy lifestyles. They also listened to a keynote speaker whose dynamic presentation was on cyber bullying.
Saturday, October 14, Mrs. D. Giovingo and two FCCLA members, Jaqueline Reyes and Isabel Ovalle left for Washington D.C. to attend the NOYS, National Organization of Youth Safety, Youth Interactive Traffic Safety Lab. Lake Geneva Badger FCCLA chapter
was recognized and awarded the all-expenses paid trip for the work that they did on the Fall of 2016 Seat Belts Save Challenge. The Seat Belts Save Challenge has three categories: best overall campaign, greatest improvement in seat belt usage, and highest seat belt use rate. The FCCLA Chapter at Lake Geneva – Genoa City Union High in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, won the highest seat belt rate category, achieving an almost-perfect usage rate of 97.8 percent. Isabel, Jaqueline and their adviser, Mrs. Giovingo were able to showcase their work to the 300 participants from high schools from the Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland area. Isabel, Jaqueline and Mrs. Giovingo also had the opportunity to manage one of the Lab stations--the Seat Belt Relay--a fun, interactive activity where participants win prizes while learning the importance of wearing their seat belt in "every seat, every time”. At the Youth Interactive Traffic Safety Lab Isabel and Jaqueline were able to see firsthand the importance of peer to peer education. The Lab also offered hands on activities about: Auto Maintenance, Distractions, Impaired Driving, Inclement Weather, Motorcycle Safety, Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety, Railroad Tracks, Seat Belt Usage, Sharing the Road, Teen Passengers, and Work Zones.
The week of October 16-20, 2017 the FCCLA chapter celebrated National Teen Traffic Safety Week. This campaign is focused on Wisconsin’s Graduated Driver Licensing law. The goal is to educate teens about the risks of teen driving and the importance of GDL-Graduated Driver Licensing in developing and encouraging safe, responsible drivers and reducing crashes and fatalities on Wisconsin roads. Each day during that week a message was delivered about GDL to the students via announcements. Tuesday, drivers were surprised by a seat belt check which was conducted in both student parking lots by the school administrators and the police liaison. Student drivers with seat belts on were given a ticket to redeem for a free donut. Students with Instruction Driver Permits were also rewarded donuts if they presented their permits to Mrs. Giovingo throughout the day on Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday during lunch periods FCCLA members handed out GDL car magnets and GDL wallet cards. The members also conducted a game that made students aware of GDL hour requirements, “How many hours?” game. Students with the best times in sorting the answers were given gift cards. Students could also challenge each other in teams of four in the Seat Belt Relay game. The team with the best time would also win gift cards.
The last activity that FCCLA will do in October is that they will be visiting Star Center Elementary on Thursday, October 26 to present the Ollie Otter Booster Seat and Seat Belt Safety Program. The FCCLA members will be talking to the 60 students in the third grade class about the requirements for moving out of a booster seat. FCCLA will be bring Ollie Otter and Bucky Badger to help emphasize the importance of being in the correct safety seat in a car.