My name is Himani Mondal, and I am from the Eastview FCCLA Chapter in the Central East Area. I am currently serving as your State Representative to the Board of Directors. FCCLA has been a big part of my life in high school. I have gained so many valuable skills from it, skills that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and I wanted to share a little bit about my FCCLA success story.
In middle school, I was a very outgoing and confident person. I excelled at public speaking and I wasn’t afraid to put myself out there. However, with the pandemic hitting, I seemed to suddenly lose all of those skills. I was now terrified of public speaking, and I seemed to choke every time that I had to public speak. I didn’t even realize how much my public speaking skills had diminished until I had to present my first ever STAR Event at the Area competition. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I literally stuttered through every single word of my presentation. Regardless, I somehow advanced to State, and I continued to work hard to improve my speaking skills and confidence. I attended events my Chapter held and continued to improve my project. When I recorded my project for State, I didn’t have high expectations, but I managed to squeak by and qualify for Nationals. What I didn’t realize was that by doing a STAR Event, I had been improving my public speaking skills everyday. The day I had to present at Nationals, I was terrified. What if I stuttered through my presentation again? However, when I got up to present, something incredible happened. All of my nerves all went away. I flew through my project with confidence. And a few days later, the girl who just a few months prior stuttered through her entire presentation completely filled with nerves, ended up getting 3rd place at nationals in her first ever STAR Event. Since then, I have improved my skills tremendously. I’ve been excelling at all FCCLA Competitive Events I participate in, consistently placing in the top 6 nationally. I have also held many leadership positions within the organization, including Chapter Historian/Fundraising Coordinator, Chapter President, Area Peer Educator, and of course, State Rep to the Board. I am the first person from my Chapter of 18 years to take on a State Leadership position, and it goes to show how much FCCLA has helped me improve. If you had told freshman me that I would be a State Officer my senior year, I probably would have laughed and thought you were joking.
My time in FCCLA has changed me in so many ways and I’m excited to continue my journey by giving back to my state and chapter as a State Officer this year and as an alumni in the near future.
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