Submitted Photo Rugby eighth graders Maddie Hurly, left, Beth Schmaltz and Caylee Bogar stand near their service project display, which won third place in a competition at the National FCCLA Convention in Denver, Colo.

A team of Rugby eighth graders placed third in competition and won gold medals at the National Family Community and Career Leaders of America (FCCLA) Convention in Denver, CO, Thursday, July 6.

Caylee Bogar, Madeline Hurly and Beth Schmaltz, members of the North Dakota state champion team in the Chapter Service Project Level 1 category. Along with Rugby High School students Hailey Solem and Kason Connnot, members of the Chapter Service Project Portfolio Level 3 team, Ryli Kuhnhenn, individual state champion in the professional presentation category, and Ryan Slaubaugh, state champion in the fashion construction category, all made the trip.

Bogar, Hurly and Schmaltz presented a service project carried out in Rugby and displayed it on a tri-fold board, presenting it before panels of judges at the state and national convention. After winning first place for the project at the state level, the team competed at the national level in Denver, July 2-6.

Schmaltz said, “We took orders for two days for (Dairy Queen) Blizzards, and we delivered the Blizzards to local businesses around town. We sold the Blizzards for $6 for a small Blizzard, and two of those dollars went to the Children’s Miracle Network in Fargo. We made a trifold board, and we did a speech about it,” she said.

“I went to the STAR events as a timer, so I knew what the competition was like, but I had never competed,” she said. “We placed third, so we set the bar high for our future.”

STAR, or Students Taking Action Events are competitions at district, state and national levels that judge “proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills and career preparation,” according to the FCCLA’s website.

Schmaltz said, “There are four judges, three judges, a student judge and a timer. You give your speech, then after you give the speech, they ask you three questions. Going into it, we were pretty nervous, because you’re going up against the best of the best. We didn’t think we had that big of a chance, but we ended up getting an email that we were in the top 10.”

Schmaltz said, “There were around 8,000 competitors that went this year and there were over 30 events. You find out onstage if you’re in the top three. Our event is one of the most common ones, so there were lots of teams,” she said. There are two from each state that go to each event and Puerto Rico was also there.”

“We received a plaque onstage, and afterwards we went to our state meeting and got gold medals,” Schmaltz said.

Kuhnhenn, Slaubaugh, Connot and Solem also received top awards, earning silver medals in their categories.

“I am beyond proud of this group of students,” FCCLA Advisor Brittany Lovcik said. “They have worked so hard throughout the year on their STAR events – working on it during school as well as many hours outside of school. I am not surprised that these students advanced to nationals as they were constantly trying to make any improvements, they could to better prepare themselves for the next level of competition. Getting to nationals is no easy task, it takes hard work, dedication, practice, & many hours perfecting it as a whole.

Of her middle school team, Lovcik said, “I had told them their project was at a level three versus level one and they didn’t quite believe me, but they came running out of their competition filled with glee that a judge said their project was at a level three!”

“This is just the start for these girls & I am so excited to see what FCCLA can do for them in the future. I am blessed to be their advisor & am honestly just so proud of them,” Lovcik said.