To help celebrate Career and Technical Education Month, Andalusia High School Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) held their annual FCCLA Week last week, February 13-17^th. FCCLA is the career and technical student organization for Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) formerly known as home economics. Mrs. Jana Clark is the AHS FACS teacher and sponsor of FCCLA.

Every year, the FCCLA officers either use the National FCCLA theme for the week or create their own. The theme the officers chose for this year was “self-love.” Self-love has often been seen as a moral flaw linked to vanity and selfishness. However, in 1956, psychologist Erich Fromm argued that in order to be able to truly love another person, a person needs to first love themselves by caring about and taking responsibility for themselves. Not loving yourself, comparing yourself to others, and low self-esteem can lead to disorders such as depression, self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide. This is often seen during the teenage years, and FCCLA wanted to bring awareness to that fact.

The themes for each day of FCCLA Week were as follows:

• Mon., Feb. 13 – The FCCLA officers wore “self-Love” necklaces and were required to say “love yourself” after everything they said. If they did not say “love yourself,” another student could steal the necklace, but they had to continue the game. Whoever had the necklaces at the end of the day reported to Mrs. Clark to claim a prize.
• Tues., Feb. 14 – “Kiss” Disorders Goodbye! During first block, teachers passed out a Hershey’s kiss to each student along with fliers that focused on self-love tips.
• Wed., Feb. 15 – Guest speaker Brent Cosby spoke on the topic of self-love, and the FCCLA officers passed out Teacher Who’s Who certificates to the faculty and staff. Teachers were awarded titles such as Best Smile and Most Stylish as well as Most School Spirit and Best Motivator.
• Thurs., Feb. 16 – T-shirt Thursday–FCCLA asked each grade level to wear a T-shirt of a specific color to represent disorders that result from low self-esteem.

Seniors wore blue for depression awareness.

Juniors wore yellow for suicide awareness.

Sophomores wore orange for self-harm awareness.

Freshmen wore purple for eating disorder awareness.

• Fri., Feb. 17^th – Love Your Leaders! FCCLA asked that the student body express their gratitude for their leaders—administrators, teachers, parents, etc. After all, we learn to love by example. FCCLA officers and members provided refreshments for the AHS faculty and staff to show their appreciation for all they do.