FCCLA Revisited: Andrew Richardson & Jill Smithers

[Music] Hello, I'm Sigo Next Community and welcome back to the Round Table podcast. I'm your host, Brooklyn Martinez. And I'm Craven Fauzner. Today we are sitting down with FCCLA advisor, Miss Jill Smithers, in 2018, Odsigo graduate, Andrew Richardson, one of Ohio FCCLA's former state presidents. To start off, please tell us a little bit about yourselves. I miss Smithers and I have been teaching here at Odsigo for 26 years and have for the past 12 years a better advisor for the FCCLA. And I'm Andrew Richardson. I'm 2018 Odsigo High School graduate. After Odsigo, I went to Eastern Michigan University, graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and minors in chemistry and biology, and then pivoted over to education. And my current career path is I'm the state coordinator for Michigan FCCLA. So I oversee all of the programming and activities for all the chapters of FCCLA and Michigan. So we recently, bless season, we had another 2018 graduate, Caleb Frank. What was it like with having him in your same graduate class? Caleb and I spent a lot of time together. We grew up three streets apart in Haskins and we were on cross country together. We did several coral ensembles together. I think Caleb and I saw each other every day for probably 10 years. When I saw he was on the podcast, I got a hold of Mrs. Crop right away. I said, "Hey, I got to do that too. How do we get in that?" But obviously, great memories with Caleb and all those friends from my graduating class. I'm very fortunate that personally, I've been able to stay connected to several of those people and just grateful for the time at Atsigo and the way it transformed me and set me up for my career now. Keeping on the high school topic, do you have any favorite memories from high school? Like school lunches that wouldn't no longer be here or anything else? Really, a lot of my high school memories were in FCCLA. I remember several really fun competitions. There was one year where we participated in Parliamentary Procedure, which was such a challenge of a competition. Any of our friends in the FFA chapter can attest to Parliamentary Procedure as well. But I remember that. I remember great years of cross-country. We were fortunate to win three NBC championships in my four-year, 10-year, and high school. Great memories with those friends. Then really just the day-to-day. I was fortunate to have a great high school experience, probably because I spent half of my day in the choir room. That was a great time. I remember going to choral competition and just so grateful for how that time shaped me and that I was able to take advantage of great opportunities. You couldn't sit down. There was no way. He was busy, busy as a student. He accomplished quite a bit. I remember the musical days too. We did Pirates of Penn Zance and Once Upon a mattress where the two I was a part of. Those days were school day gets out and then you go to FCCLA chapter meeting. Then you go to cross-country, I guess it would be track practice at that time of year. Then you do homework for an hour and then you're doing musical till 9.30 at night. I can't do those hours now as an adult. I don't know how we did that in high school, but if somebody can figure out how to keep that ability go and let me know I could use it. Two hours of sleep and coffee. They get less effective every year, don't they, Mrs. Mothers? Yes. So switching over to the FCCLA topic, what exactly is FCCLA and what does the acronym stand for? FCCLA stands for Family Career and Community Leaders up America. It is an organization that builds confidence, career skills, how else do I want to say it? I'm looking for another C. Competitions. It helps the student come out of their shell. So it was just what I really love about it, just to see them go from being too shy to having all of this confidence in themselves. For me, FCCLA is all those things. Especially in, I can test in Michigan and across the country, we're really focused on preparing students to enter career fields of great need. Up in Michigan, one of the prevailing issues in our economy is the lack of teachers. We have a massive teacher shortage. University of Michigan estimates we're losing 10,000 teachers per year and only recruiting 5,000 new ones. So that's a trend we've got to turn around if we want to keep our education systems strong and healthy, right? So preparing students for careers in education, hospitality, Michigan has a multi-billion dollar hospitality industry, human services, and then arts and design as well. And all of those careers are backed by what we call family and consumer science is education. And this is the discipline of skills, life literacy, career readiness. It's sort of your, the class you take to get prepared for life as an adult, not just in your career, but at home, because we know that career success starts before you ever get to the office, right? If you aren't able to maintain your personal finance or maintain your personal wellness or your mental health or know how to look for resources, these are all things, family consumer sciences is going to prepare you for an FCCLA kind of blends the career readiness and FCS education through advisors and teachers like Miss Smithers who are delivering family consumer sciences to middle school students in high school. So as Miss Smithers has mentioned, she's been the advisor of FCCLA for 12 years now. How long have you been involved in FCCLA, Andrew? Well, 12 years. Miss Smithers and I really connected through FCCLA. I was the, I believe, the first student you recruited to the chapter, right? So, so that's how it started. I had her in seventh grade, which, she'll remember, we were over in Grand Rapids that year because they were renovating the junior high school. And then eighth grade, we came over to this beautiful new building and she said, all right, I'm ready to try this, this FCCLA thing, but I need some students. You want to try it? And I, I share the story, not to jump ahead too much, but the reason that I chose to be in FCCLA with Miss Smithers was actually so that I could get out of school for a day. You know, I wish I could say, it was this great story that I really was interested in leadership, but really I just did not want to go to math. And so she said, we're going to this conference at Pennacoree Center. If you'd like to try it, you know, they've got some workshops. You can see if you're interested. So on the bus ride there, she says, Hey, by the way, I forgot to mention there is this competition and we decided you're going to compete. You have to say this thing called the FCCLA Creed and then like interpret it. And oh, by the way, you're going first. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, what is the FCCLA Creed? I have never heard of this thing, right? So I compete. I ended up winning. And from there, I was pretty much hooked. And she started telling me about the leadership opportunities and that led to me becoming the state president in 2017, 2018. And so I'm very grateful for that opening thing meeting 12 years ago that really got me involved. And for me, actually in year 13 now, I like to tell people, this is the first year that I've now been in FCCLA for more than half my life. 25 years old, I've been in the 13 years. So big year this year for that. So really, what is the FCCLA Creed? Well, the FCCLA, we got time for it. I can, the FCCLA Creed says, we are the family, career, and community leaders of America. We face the future with warm courage and high hope for we have the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious values for we are the builders of homes, homes for America's future, homes where living will be the expression of everything that is good and fair, homes where truth and love and security and faith will be realities, not dreams. We are the family, career and community leaders of America. We face the future with warm courage and high hope. So that's a little fun fact for you. That Creed, except for the name family, community leaders of America has not changed in 80 years. It has been the same since the organization was founded as future homemakers of America in 1945. So it's a powerful Creed because it connects us to our past and it connects us also to the future right. I think especially in times like these and I don't remember, gosh, how old would you guys have been during COVID, right? That makes me so sad to hear that we're getting so old already but I was in a. college and you know you're alone in your dorm room and you're taking class online right and having the courage to just continue and you know you don't know what the future is right but I think we face the future with more encouragement. I hope like I try to live by that every day because it's so powerful. I mean if you can be positive about things you can do anything. So FCCLA is offered as mostly a high school organization. How did you manage to stay in FCCLA throughout colleges? Is there some sort of organization where you can in college? There is Collegiate FCCLA. It is a growing movement. I'm not aware in Ohio of of what colleges have FCCLA. Bowling Green State University has a combined career technical organization club on campus so it combines the family consumer sciences students as well as I believe the business students are involved in one of our other former state officers from Otsigo. Sophie Kepling is the vice president of that organization at BG right now. But the way that I stayed involved was really pure chance. When I was state president of Ohio in 2017-2018 I went to the National Leadership Conference in National Tennessee to represent Ohio and I got sat at a table with the Michigan FCCLA state president and it was from her that I learned that the state office of FCCLA is actually at Eastern Michigan University and that's somewhere I'd been interested in applying anyway and so I applied and then in college I stayed connected by working for Michigan Deca, Michigan FCCLA and Skills USA Michigan, three of our CTSOs. So I stayed connected. I worked for those for four years and then after I graduated I was continuing on a path to medical schools what I wanted to do and those who knew me at Otsigo that was my goal since I was nine years old. That path did not work out and then I got a call from my old boss and said hey we just had a surprise retirement if you'd like to consider coming on board as the interim state coordinator for this year we'd love to have you and I've just never left from then. So lots of ways to get involved I always encourage people from my chapter you know get a hold of Ohio FCCLA they are always looking for alumni volunteers you know Ohio FCCLA is I'm so proud of them they've grown to over 10,000 members statewide but with that comes challenges and we need alumni to stay involved and support the students right so I had a great experience as an alumni volunteer in Ohio and when I had the the ability in my schedule to help out there and I always encourage alumni to once you graduate high school it doesn't have to be over you can help out. Yeah so what skills did you learn from your time at FCCLA and how do you apply them to the life that you live today? Oh this I could do two hours on this but I will not. I think the biggest things I learned from FCCLA are number one you know be proud of what you're doing everybody has their own interests everybody has things that make them unique and not everybody's going to understand your interests but that does not make them any less valuable to you or to society or to your school you know at the time that we were doing FCCLA I mean there were years we had like seven people doing that and you compared it to other organizations and it was hard right to you know I mean we were so blessed at CGO to have an incredible FFA program and you know we had they started Deca at Penta and then came to Otsi go when I was a senior so I never was really involved in Deca but you know you want to be those organizations but then taking that moment and realizing like our mission is still really really important whether you're you know and that applies I think whether you're doing sports or music or you're in a CTSO like FCCLA you know taking pride and ownership and what you're doing is the first thing the second thing I think is the ability to have quality like to do quality work and to do it efficiently part of my responsibility now is I'm I'm the primary contact and support system for 40 schools in Michigan right now and so I have advisors just like Miss Smithers calling me daily asking hey I'm trying to do this competitive event I don't understand it so that I help them with that or I'm trying to register my students for the conference and these are all you know great questions but I have to be able to quickly answer them and then move on to the next task and so having that ability to you know write an essay or write a paper in a day because I can't spend more than a day on it I got to move on when I do my scripting for my state officers you know the script I the script we produce for the state leadership conference in Michigan is is usually about 18 to 20 pages and I usually have a week to write it and so that ability the efficiency has been something that I've really I think that's translated almost perfectly to my my career and there are so many others confidence like she said and just the ability to walk into a room and be able to to communicate effectively I've been in I've been in some spaces through FC CLA that I can't even tell you just how incredible you know meeting amazing people like state superintendent the national president national CEO Sandy Spavone from FC CLA even down to you know when I was state president we presented to the state board of education I met politicians former pro athletes and the ability to communicate effectively with them and to share our message and our our mission for FC CLA is critical so as you just mentioned you were state president for Ohio how did you balance being state president for FC CLA and also attending high school I didn't sleep a lot no I you know there were sacrifices there were and that's another lesson I learned to go back to the last question you have to make choices and I made difficult choices to balance that FC CLA was very very important to me at that time I was also really invested in our choral program I was I was you know like a front row do they still have swing choir here yes yeah so I was front row in the swing choir I was in night music I was in you know our men's chorus and our choral and and I was I did cross country and I did track like I tried to do everything right you know you get four years in high school but I but when I got elected president I was going to miss about 32 days of school so some things that happened like you know I was not re nominated as a captain for cross country and that like crushed me I loved being captain of the team I was co-captains with Adam Lewis and I guess that year it would have been I think Shane Tobar was our third captain because Adam was one of our only seniors that year but anyway and then the next year so not you know senior year I was so excited to be captain of cross country and I was not re nominated because I missed three cross country meets throughout the season so I couldn't be there for my team the way I wanted right and then the biggest one as a somebody who loves music I had to miss my senior musical from FCCLA and that was awful when I looked that calendar I was afraid it was the same weekend and I had a meeting that I had to be in Columbus for and so I would have loved to you know after spending years in the ensemble I was ready for my chance to audition for a leading role and to sit there and realize that was not going to happen was difficult but I think that's kind of what high school is about is learning how to make choices and I'm very pleased with the choice I made obviously it's worked out well I given that I work for FCCLA in a professional capacity now but but I think that's the balancing act right is being able to make tough choices and and I'm we are very fortunate in the at-sego community that we have very supportive and understanding adults around us that you know like my cross country coach shout out coach half-ner you know he he was so understanding of what I was doing and you know everything from that to my my choir director to my FCCLA advisors helping me understand how to balance those things and also when I can't balance it you know coach half-ner said he's like you can you can miss this one but you have to be there for the championship and then that was up to me to to prioritize that and make it happen so difficult it was difficult but important so miss meathers I'm curious on your time an FCCLA in high school or junior high if you did it well back in that time so many years ago it was known as FHA which is future home makers of America and I was for our particular chapter believe I was the secretary and we went to one regional event but we never had any competition we didn't compete at all so it it just like stopped there so yeah so when I got started teaching then about probably 13 years later I always wanted to do something with FCCLA but I ended up doing service learning instead and then that tied in with that then I found out that that tied in with it so I was able to use that in class as well so so that's how you know I I guess I got into it yeah And as an advisor, could you talk about some of the Ocego students who have been successful in the organization over the years that you have been the advisor here? Well, I have to say Brooklyn Martinez. She was pretty successful. And she was. And I mean that because any student that chooses to go on to competition, I feel has a successful attempt at least an attempt. And he was my first student that I chose and I had goosebumps just like all over me because I knew that this kid was that people person that was going to go somewhere with FCCLA. And it's just kind of funny because when he graduated from Eastern Michigan and said he wanted to go on to medical school, I'm like, he's not medical. What are you talking about? He's not medical. So if you choose to do medical now, go ahead. But at the same time, I just knew that personality of his was going to be able to network with people so easily. And the changes that he's made for Michigan FCCLA is just amazing. We've also had Aaron Agan who also served with Andrew at the state level. Sophie Kaplan, Courtney Slee, Joseph McQuillan. We now have Eliza Anderson. Let me see who else. Gee. Bella Vaska, way back in the day. She was my first seventh grader that I chose. Bella. Bella was the first Otzika student to make to the national conference with that nutrition and wellness. She's an amazing project. My first competition with you, I did horribly because I did. It's now called sustainability challenge, but it used to be called environmental ambassador. And I just was not prepared for what that was going to be. Not to divulge to another point, but that's the thing I love about FCCLA is you can do and be so many things. I got really into the leadership side and being an officer for a total of four years. I was not a good competitor and I only made the national conference my senior year before that I never qualified. And so whether you are interested in community service or you're interested in competition or leadership or career development, there are so many ways to be a great FCCLA member. It's one of the strengths of the organization. So yeah. And I would say that any student that gets involved in a CTSO, which FCCLA is one of, there's that opportunity to be great. Just by doing one of that, that confidence behind that. And I keep on staying confidence because that's what I see. It is so ingrained in the competitions. So on the topic of FCCLA, we understand that you have to be in certain classes to be able to participate. What are those classes in both junior high and high school level? Well, for here at Otcego, it's my classes at the junior high level at 7th and 8th grade. So that's the fun with foods class or the intro to FCS. Here at the high school, Miss Vollmer's classes, any of her classes would be, what could, would be, what could, you know, get you into FCCLA at the Michigan level, I'm not sure. Yeah. Well, to add to the family consumer sciences classes, you know, a lot of times there are, what we call now career clusters. And so if you go to Pennac Career Center, some examples at Penn Toe would be things like the Early Childhood Education Program. The Culinary Arts Program is involved in FCCLA. So if you enter one of those pathways, I'm sure there are others. That is a way for you to get engaged with the organization. So even if you're going to Pennac and you're no longer at Otcego, there are ways to get involved. And I would encourage you, whatever pathway you enter to get involved in that CTSO. And I'm glad you brought up the family consumer sciences classes, you know, for anybody in our audience who may be listening at home, you know, to give some extra context for parents, who may remember home economics, you know, very often you will see people saying, you know, we need to bring that back. But what FCCLA is trying to help people understand is that actually those classes never left, they just evolved and they just changed into what family consumer sciences is. So if you see value and you remember those great memories from, from your classes back when you were in high school, have your students get in a family consumer sciences class in high school. And the more we can support FCS teachers and programs, the stronger we can build those foundational skills. So we understand that there are different levels of FCCLA, those who do not know. What are these different levels and how many levels will there be? Are you meaning the levels of competition? Yes, the levels of competition. Well, there's level one, which is for seventh and eighth graders. Level two would be ninth and tenth. And the 11th and 12th is level three. And then there's a collegiate level of level four. Yeah. And so anybody who might be thinking about joining FCCLA, but they're nervous about that first year. One of the great things about FCCLA is you're going to compete against people your own age, right? So if you're a seventh grader, you're not going to be facing off against a senior. So you can compete against people that are in your roughly or your experience level. And then I think the second part of your question, you know, very often you're going to go to the regional competition first in Ohio. And so I'm not sure where it is this year, but there's a rotating group of schools that host it. So you go to the regional competition and then you qualify for a chance to go to the state leadership conference, which is held in Columbus. And then the top competitors in each category from the state leadership conference will go on to the national leadership conference. And so I guess in that way, there's really three levels. And this year, the national conference is in Washington, DC. We're going to be landing in DC, right? As the nation is celebrating 250 years in DC. So it's going to be a very busy time, but we're all pretty excited to be in our nation's capital this summer. Can you tell us some of the other places? Nationals have been held throughout your high school career, Andrew, because I know when I did it, it was supposed to be up in Washington. Yeah. I did it. It was Orlando, Florida. Yeah, it was last year. Yeah, last year was Florida. The year before I think it was Washington, Denver, Denver, I think they planned them out. They did. So far. So to give you a little bit of context, they have already scheduled all of the national conferences out to 2032. They know where they're going for all those. So some of those will be revealed. Just to give you a little hint. So we've got DC next year. We're in San Antonio, Texas, which my very first year, that's where it was. But I didn't qualify after San Antonio, 2028 is going to be in Indianapolis, Indiana. Oh, it's from there. As then 2029. I believe is an Ohio double check that. And then I know that 2032 is Salt Lake City. I'm not 100% sure if they've announced 20 30 and 31 yet, but I know that they know what that is and we'll find out soon. As a student, I qualified for three national conferences. Two of them I attended as a state officer and then the third one I qualified for to compete. My first two years, I went to San Diego, California, where I stayed in still the most expensive hotel I've ever stayed in and the Marriott Marquis that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. It was the most incredible view I've ever had in a hotel. Second year was Nashville, Tennessee. I am not personally like a Nashville lover. I did not engage with that city as much as in San Diego, but what was really cool is that was the year that their hockey team, the predators made this feel like a final. So the city was very active that year. It was a really cool time to be in Nashville. And then my third year, we went to Atlanta, Georgia, which is a favorite city of mine. I have a lot of great memories in that city. But love love Atlanta and and then as an adult, I've had the opportunity to represent Michigan in Seattle, Washington and last year in Orlando, Florida. And then this year, hopefully, in DC as well. That's where it was supposed to be, Afegraju or Seattle. Wasn't it? Seattle was 2024. Seattle women so far. Seattle was very cool. It was a very unique location. I just like raising that. That year. No, the year before Sarah Riley and someone else qualified. San Diego. Once San Diego and then my Afegraju or it was Seattle. I will say even though the Grey's Anatomy set is not located in Seattle, the fairy boats are real and they are very cool. So I know your time in FCC LA has been very extensive. Whether or not you're competing or you're being advisor, but if you could pick one memory, that's your absolute favorite from your time spent in FCC LA, which memory would it be? When I answered that one before he thinks. There are so many good memories. I really can't even pick a top five, but I will share one of my funniest memories. When you're a state officer, Ohio does an incredible job with their production of the state conference. One of the great benefits of getting to compete in FCC LA is if you're lucky enough to make it onto the stage. You get to walk back around and see the backstage. stage. And it's just an amazing production. I want to shout out the Ohio FCCLA team who just every year I'm just blown away by seeing what they post online. But when you're a state officer, you're very involved in that production. And so there's folks who stand behind the stage right by the door where you're about to go out. So my junior year when I was first vice president of Ohio FCCLA, I had been selected as a candidate for president and secretary. And so the way it worked is myself and my counterpart, Shayla Combs, who by the way is doing amazing things. She went, she's, I'd still follow along with her and I hope she's doing well. She's listening. But my Shayla and I were double slated. So we both were running for president. We both were running for secretary. And the, the winner of our election would be president and the second place would be secretary. And so the way that the cues work when you're getting ready to go on the stage is, you know, the, the, the secretary announces the next secretary as an office, as the new incoming officer. It's all student led. So they're going on the stage about to announce the new secretary. And I'm standing at my door getting ready to go out and announce the new vice president. And I'm, there's this weird time delay where they're going to announce the secretary. So I'm going to know in about five seconds if I'm the state president, because if they don't call my name, I won. But whether I win or lose, I have to maintain composure because that's the professional side, right? Like I'm here to deliver this experience for the members. We all got trained on that. And so I have to maintain my composure good or bad. And they're, they're about to say, you know, the next state secretary is. And then the, the production team member at the door goes, send Andrew now, send him now. And I'm like, oh, I guess I'm secretary because they're sending me out there because I wasn't even thinking like, oh, they're about to send me out because I'm next. And I just remember they did not call my name. They called the Shalos name. And that means that I was president. So I did my best to maintain my composure, but I was pretty smiling, pretty smiley because I walked out to go say the vice president and sell my mother in the front row. And my mother was just just bawling because she had no, she knew that I had won. So then I announced the new first vice president and then stayed on the stage to be announced as president. But that whole 30 seconds was the most emotions I've ever felt in a 30 second period, probably in my life. And, you know, just to call back again, like the, the things the organization can do for you if you allow yourself to be all in. And that's, that's my message to FC Celi members now is just be all in on it. Like dive in, go 100% and see what it can do for you. So can you tell us a little bit about some of the competition kids can do like I was involved and Brooklyn was involved in my eighth grade year. I did food innovation. Can you tell us some more of those type of competition stuff that the kids can compete in? And if you had to pick which one would be your favorite? What do you go first? I've got a good one. Um, yeah, I was trying to start off alphabetically. But, let's see. There's nutrition and wellness sports nutrition, folks and children. Um, gee, there's so much. There's really is. What do you say there's at least 20? There are, I believe the star events, which are the large competitive events. I think there are 40. There's no. Yeah. There are 40. They're adding more every year. Yeah. Um, yeah. For, for me, my, my favorite one is teaching strategies. Um, this is an event. It's only two years old. Um, but I, I was very fortunate. My, um, in Seattle, I had the opportunity to be the first ever nationally consultant for teaching strategies. So I got to run the national competition for that. Um, the short summary of teaching strategies is it is a role play event. So what that means is if you are the presenter, you're actually a teacher. You're pretending to be a teacher. You have a resource container of items you bring that are your classroom resources. And you actually will conduct a 20 minute lesson plan with the judges who are pretending to be students. So if you're somebody who's ever thought about teaching or like, you know, would I be a good teacher? Is this a career I'm even going to like, you know, teaching strategies is a really good way to find that out because you get to teach and you get feedback on that, um, your ability to teach and, you know, what strategies you choose to use. Um, I just love that event. It's so fun to judge. Um, and then of course, I, I'm not going to talk too much more about it, but I have to shout out Parliamentary procedure. I just love that event. Yeah. The lot teaching strategies and sounds like fun. So we like to end each episode with the same question. And that question is what advice do you have for our listeners today? I kind of previewed this, uh, a couple questions ago, but, you know, depending on who our audience is, whether it's high school students or, you know, it could be parents or alumni. I think this is a message that resonates. Um, at least I hope it is, you know, be all in on what you're doing. Um, you know, I'm a huge advocate for, um, you know, trying different things, creating new opportunities. Um, I, I said this, I think right at the beginning, but you only get four years here at out to go to, to try as many things as you can and to figure out who you are. And, um, I'm so glad that in my four years here, I sacrificed some sleep, uh, to be able to do some amazing things. And I think about all the adults who helped me on that journey, whether it was, you know, trying cross country, I'd never run before. And then I tried to freshman year with coach Haffner and it trained, transformed my life. I'd never tried leadership competitions until FCC LA. I had never tried dancing until it's required, right? But, um, high school is a great time to be all into, try new things, learn about yourself. And then, you know, the second half of that is when you go on, when you leave this building, you do not have to give up those passions. You can sing for the rest of your life. You can, you can run or participate in your sport of choice for as long as you can. You know, you can be an FCC LA and then you can go being alumni volunteer and go judge every year at the conference and or you can become a state advisor and do it professionally. But, um, but those dreams don't have to go away, but use high school as an opportunity to discover and learn who you are. And pretty much piggybacking off of what he said, um, yeah, get involved. Yeah. Don't, don't just hope that, oh, someday maybe I could do this. Do it now. Don't, don't sit and wait because you never know what you're going to learn from the involvement that you're, you know, partake in. Um, so, I mean, like with Andrew, Andrew never thought he was going to, you know, do FCC LA. He want to do medical. But here he is an FCC LA, you know, at the Michigan at the state level, you know, at a much higher leadership level. So, yeah, I, I've always encouraged that in my career classes too, you know, at the junior high level, getting involved when you get to high school. And even if you think you're, you know, I hear all the time when I'm talking to members like, oh, you know, I don't think I'm going to be very good at FCC LA. Well, first of all, you don't know that. The second thing is even if you are good or bad, you're going to learn. Right. And you're going to pick up on things and have experiences. And sometimes you might even meet people who can then open doors for you later. Um, and, and so there's no reason not to try and to be part of a community and contribute community service and help make our community better. I really like that. So thank you guys for coming out today. And I wish you luck with the rest of the year in FCC LA and in general. And I would like to shout out our soundboard for today's episode, Mr. Ollie Schroeder. He did an amazing job. Thank you for tuning into the round table podcast. Special thanks go out to our technology director, Mr. Luke Swartz and our advisor, Mrs. Lavender Crab. Check out any of our previous episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or Amazon Music. You've been listening to the round table where students share, explore and inspire. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Phra Naha Phra Naha