EIGHTH GRADER WINS NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL
ethel Park
BETHEL PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT
EIGHTH GRADER WINS NATIONAL GOLD MEDAL
It’ s always great to earn a Gold Medal, but it’ s especially fun to earn one in an Olympic year!
That was the case for Independence Middle School eighth grader Kelly Katilius, who actually earned not one, but two Gold Medals— one at the State level and one at the National level.
Kelly earned her Gold Medals from the Family Career and Community Leaders of America( FCCLA) in the Junior Life Planning category.
She received her first Gold Medal at the FCCLA State Competition, held last March in Gettysburg. Her state victory and her high point total qualified her to compete at the FCCLA National Competition, which was held in July in San Diego, CA.
Preparation for these two competitions began last fall, when Kelly, through her participation in the FCCLA Club at IMS, decided that she wanted to compete at the State Competition.
She was inspired by a visit to her school from a group of FCCLA students from Bethel Park High School, who annually pay a visit to the younger students to talk about FCCLA and what the group does.
“ I was so impressed with what the high school students had to say about competing at FCCLA,” said Kelly.“ They encouraged all of us in the room to take on the challenge of competing at States. When they talked about it, they were so positive, almost radiant, and I knew right then that this was something I wanted to do.” The next question was to decide which event she should prepare to compete in, and Kelly selected the Junior Life Event Planning category. Her next step would be to select a Life Event to plan for, and she decided on“ My First Apartment” as her event. Kelly watched her older sister go through the process of setting up her first apartment as a student at the University of Pittsburgh, and Kelly thought that would be a life event worth researching.
She prepared for the State Competition by using the Chromebook computer that the school provides every Independence Middle School student, to conduct research about the things she would need to know about leasing and furnishing her first apartment— including leasing costs, up-front costs, moving costs and furnishing costs. She also prepared an oral presentation about her project.
“ Kelly used several of the STEAM( Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) concepts in creating her project,” said IMS Family and Consumer Science Teacher Heather Fontana.“ This really was more than designing a good looking presentation. Kelly did an extensive amount of research and created meaningful charts and diagrams to explain her work.
“ She also did a fantastic job of incorporating the skills that she learned in her Seventh Grade Family and Consumer Science class into her project. During our unit on Consumerism, we talk a great deal about being a good consumer and about the importance of budgeting. She carried that information directly from the classroom into her project.”
At the State Competition, three judges reviewed her binder, listened to her oral presentation and asked her questions. Her project was good enough to receive a Gold Medal, and her high score qualified her to advance to Nationals in July.
In addition to awarding her a Gold Medal, the State Judges also provided Kelly with some valuable feedback on how she could improve her presentation for Nationals. This was advice she willingly accepted, and she immediately transformed
54 Bethel Park
The smile is genuine as Kelly Katilius stands by the banner for Gold Medal winners at the FCCLA National Competition in San Diego.
their suggestions into revisions to her binder as well as her presentation.
Kelly spent four days in early July in beautiful San Diego as part of the FCCLA’ s National Competition. Her first day was spent participating in an event orientation process, and on the second day she gave her revised presentation and binder to a panel of three National Judges.
Her third day at Nationals was a“ down” day, as the judges processed their results to determine who would be presented with awards the next day. At the Awards Ceremony on the fourth day, Kelly was the only student among the 30 competitors in her event to earn a Gold Medal.
“ I felt this huge rush of adrenalin as I walked onstage to receive my medal,” she said.“ I just couldn’ t stop smiling!”
Besides winning a Gold Medal at Nationals, Kelly thoroughly enjoyed her experience in San Diego, calling it“ amazing” and“ energetic.” Her favorite experience outside of the competition was the July 4 fireworks display she was able to see from her hotel.
Kelly is already preparing for the 2017 FCCLA State Competition, which will be held in Seven Springs. This year she will be competing in the Recycle and Redesign event. This event encourages students to take an old, unusable item and repurpose it. IMS Librarian Patty Heasley provided Kelly with several broken Chromebook screens that Kelly will be redesigning to make them look like windows. After the competitions, the“ windows” will