“Cooking is an art and the best part is getting to see people’s reaction to trying your food,” stated Mackenzie Sleeth. People cook for a variety of reasons such as hunger, as a hobby, or for their job, Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) embodies all of that.
FCCLA is a national family-consumer science club that focuses on interior design, fashion, child development, cooking, and more.
At Ankeny High School (AHS), FCCLA focuses on cooking. It is available for anyone who has taken a family consumer science class to join. The club was very recently created in the second semester of this year.
“It’s the cooking club here at AHS, that we just started this semester and it has to do with everything FCS, we mainly focus on cooking,” said senior Jett Tyler.
FCCLA is a mostly student-run club, as they take charge of what they want to make, while Mackenzie Sleeth gives advice along the way.
Sleeth is the advisor of FCCLA at Ankeny High School (AHS). Sleeth has participated in FCCLA during her time in high school and college, she has won at state-level competitions and went on to win nationally in 2023.
“In 2023 I competed in FCCLA at Iowa State University, I participated in hospitality and restaurant management and won at state. Later I went to nationals in Colorado and got first place,” Sleeth said.
Sleeth decided to enlist senior Jett Tyler as the president of FCCLA due to their shared interests in cooking.
“Ms. Sleeth needed someone for a cooking club and I was on board, no one else has done it so I might as well start it,” Tyler said.
The club’s main objective is to practice cooking. Currently, the team is preparing for a conference held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There are multiple different types of competitions in these events, one involves students presenting their portfolio, and culinary arts events involve making and presenting a dish.
“The main thing we are focused on is the state competition on March 23-25 in Cedar Rapids, we have students competing in events from a food truck to culinary star events,” said Sleeth.
What students cook for these events, depends on the event they participate in. One event might have students pick what they want to make, while another has a set dish that students have to replicate.
“What my students cook depends on the events they do, it’s not up to me, it’s up to them. If they need advice I’ll help narrow down unique things they can do,” said Sleeth.
To prepare for these events, students are constantly practicing and perfecting recipes, there is also lots of experimenting to improve their dishes.
“There is a ton of experimenting beforehand, sometimes when you try a recipe out for the first time it doesn’t work, it tastes horrible and you have to throw it all away, it’s a cause and effect of if it’s good you work with it, if you add a different ingredient and it’s not good then you don’t add it next time,” senior Mitchell Anderson said.
There aren’t always successes in the kitchen as there are some failures, but the team laughs it off and perseveres.
“There have been a few instances where things don’t turn out we want them to be like burnt cookies, salty risotto, and mint milkshakes that are terrible. However, we just laugh it off and move on,” said Tyler.
FCCLA also does other activities besides the cooking events, they set up fundraisers and bake sales.
“We recently did a fundraiser at Uptown Dairy, we are thinking of doing more of those alongside bake sales,” said Tyler.
The FCCLA team at AHS is currently composed of four members, however, it was six. Due to the small size, it’s generally laid back and everyone gets along and has a good time.
“Since we are a tight-knit group we are usually laid back, and relaxed, we like to have fun and try new things,” said Sleeth.
Members of FCCLA have learned a lot of skills in the club especially time management, as students need to manage coming up with new ideas on what to make, while also being on a time limit for cooking.
“I’ve learned a lot about time management, being able to cook a meal, appetizer, or dessert in a short amount of time is hard” Anderson stated.
Students enjoy FCCLA to be a beneficial experience as it allows them to cook outside the school, while also getting feedback on how they can improve their dishes.
“My favorite part of FCCLA and just cooking, in general, is being able to see everybody’s faces and get compliments and feedback on what I made, how I made it, and how it tastes,” said Anderson.
However FCCLA has faced many struggles in the few weeks since its creation, the team is trying to get more members, and funding, and run smoothly.
“We are trying to get new members, get more awareness, fand unds, and also run smoothly for the people next year since I will be gone,” says Tyler.
In the future, Sleeth wants the FCCLA team to all win at state so they can go together to nationals
“Hopefully in the future, we are able to go to state and win first place for all of our events so we can go to nationals,” said Sleeth.
FCCLA is a great experience for students to have real-life experience in cooking and pastry and to experience what a culinary cooking competition is.
“If you are interested now specifically in culinary arts or baking and pastry, this is a way to give you real-life experience inside of this content area, it’s a really cool experience to be able to get feedback from other people and to be able to experience what a culinary competition is,” says Sleeth.