Four members of the Calhoun County FEA (Future Educators Association) chapter recently attended the National FEA Conference held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 10th, 11th, and 12th.
Bailie Cain, Jared Fitzwater, Erica Jones, and Brooklyn Smith competed in competitions and attended educational sessions and leadership workshops. There were three keynote speakers: Dr. Dan Brown, Roxanne Elden and Jeff Charbonneau.
Brown is the National FEA Director who made remarks about early mistakes in his teaching career.
Roxanne is a National Board Certified Teacher plus the author of the book "See Me After Class."
Charbonneau was the 2013 National Teacher of the Year who spoke highly of the teaching profession and keeping students actively involved.
35 States were represented at this year's conference with WV making a great showing with the Calhoun students receiving multiple recognitions at the awards session.
The group technology video by Bailie Cain, Jared Fitzwater, and Brooklyn Smith placed 2nd in the Nation and won the group a trophy as well as a certificate and gift card.
Jared Fitzwater placed 3rd overall in Public Speaking concerning homelessness (also a gift card) plus Jared was a top 10 national semi-finalist in Impromptu Speaking.
Erica Jones wrote an essay on the topic of "Dropout Rate" but did not make the top 10 list. However, Erica did score a special recognition top 5 award in her Leadership Award through many hours of volunteerism.
Bailie Cain was a top 10 semi-finalist in writing her FEA Moment.
The FEA group did find some time to relax and enjoy the Mall of America while in Minneapolis. The group was chaperoned by Amy Fitzwater, Shelvia Jones, and Advisor Don Poage. Mrs. Connie Hall is also a FEA Advisor who has dedicated lots of time to this successful trip.
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