competition | The Lions' Den

FCCLA STAR Events Competition

By: Adison Poole

Two members of the GS FCCLA club were recently recognized for their contribution to the program and presented with awards at the FCCLA STAR Events Competition.

Senior Karma Schall was one of the two to receive the award and she spoke of her experience with the program. The other was senior Brenna Kohl, who also received an award at the event.

Kohl and Schall displaying their certificates at the STAR Event.

Photo Courtesy: Morgan Ferczak

“STAR stands for Students Taking Action and Recognition,” FCCLA advisor Mrs. Morgan Ferczak said. “Students are able to choose a variety of different events that are related to the family and consumer sciences.”

FCCLA stands for Family Career Community Leaders of America and is made up of hardworking students. The club gains several new members every year.

“The event I competed in is called the Public Policy Advocate,” Schall said. “This event allows you to pick any public policy you’d like and educate others on the information you’ve learned.”

Schall has been involved with FCCLA for three years throughout her high school career. She focused her project on the risk of drug use and spoke about overdose to educate others on the topic.

“For my project I first educated myself on the number of overdose deaths in the U.S. and the things that have been put in place to lower these deaths,” she said.

Schall explained that her project was an effort to lower deaths related to overdose in her area.

“I chose to educate others on the Good Samaritan law,” she said. “I did this by going to local businesses to educate them on this law with a flyer that had research as well as local recovery resources.”

Schall also provided the businesses with Narcan to keep within their facilities in case of an emergency.

There were several other members who attended the event.

GS’ FCCLA team at the STAR Event.

Photo Courtesy: Morgan Ferczak

“It was a great experience and a good way to get involved,” senior Reagan Sands said.

Schall is planning to go into a nursing program in the future and is using this award as a step in that direction. She spoke of the work that she has put into the program and mentioned how proud she is of each of her accomplishments.

“It felt amazing because of the work I put into this project,” Schall said. “My efforts to spread awareness have gone so much farther than I could have imagined.”

GSHS BotsIQ Finals

Posted on May 9, 2024 by gshslionsdenadmin

By Kerrick Shaw

Photo Courtesy: Mr. Matthew King

The GS BotsIQ team had a smashing close to their season at the BotsIQ Finals Competition.

On April 26^th, GS’ “Smacky, The Spinner Bot” advanced three rounds in the winner’s bracket before forfeiting due to terminal electronics issues. The competition took place at Penn West California University.

“The point of the team is learning how to make something from scratch; from the design process to finished product,” GS BotsIQ Advisor Mr. Matthew King said. “You end up having to learn through failure a lot of the time; it takes a lot of hard work.”

This year’s group of students consists of only four members: juniors Samantha Hanawalt, Jacob Penley, Aidan True and sophomore Rocco Himes.

The team’s goal is to build a functioning 15-pound combat robot for battling against other similar bots, striving to destroy or disable its opponent.

Photo Courtesy: Mr. Matthew King

“We spent from the beginning of the year to about mid-February building our bot,” True said. “We each have assigned roles to make everything easier; it’s all a big team effort.”

Preliminaries took place at Westmoreland County Community College’s Student Achievement Center and were required before competing in the annual Finals Competition on April 26^th and 27^th.

Each student is ambitious for next year’s season. A new and improved bot will be designed and built with the help of the industry partner General Carbide and Industry Advisor Mr. Mike Bulebosh.

“I think it’s an exciting, positive experience, and a really great opportunity,” Himes said. “Because it was my first year being a part of the team, I learned a lot while programming and making the robot.”