STAR Events
Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) Events are Competitive Events in which members compete at the regional/district, state, and national levels. Students are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, leadership skills, and career preparation. STAR Events allow students to compete individually or as a team. There are more than 30 STAR Events students can choose to compete in, all of which recognize participants who demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to actively identify an issue concerning families, careers, or communities, research the topic, and develop and implement a project to advocate for positive change.
STAR Events offer individual skill development and application of learning through the following activities:
- Cooperative - teams work to accomplish specific goals
- Individualized - an individual member works alone to accomplish specific goals
- Competitive - individual or team performance is measured by an established set of criteria
FCCLA Competitive Events and the Modernized Career Clusters 2024-2025 School Year
FCCLA recognizes that the transition from the previous Career Pathways model to the modernized Career Clusters framework is ongoing. For the 2024-2025 school year, students competing in STAR Events are not required to update their materials to reflect the modernized Career Clusters if they have already used the previous model (Career Pathways) in their presentations or materials.
At the national level, evaluators will be notified and instructed that students may use either the former Career Pathways model or the modernized Career Clusters framework. Students will not be penalized solely for using one model over the other. However, this does not exempt participants from penalties related to incorrect use, misalignment, or errors as outlined in the specific event guidelines. Students should ensure that whichever framework they choose to use, it is applied correctly and in accordance with event requirements.
FCCLA is currently in the process of preparing the 2025-2026 Competitive Events Guidelines, which will be updated to fully align with the modernized Career Clusters framework. Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, projects will be required to align with the modernized Career Clusters. Additional resources and guidance will be provided to support this transition.
STAR Event Resources
Which STAR Event is for You?
Not sure which STAR Event is for you? The following quiz can help you narrow down your choices. Be sure to ask your chapter adviser for the STAR Event guidelines and discuss any eligibility criteria before making your final decision!
Online Project Summary Form
The Online Project Summary Form is available on the "Surveys" tab of the FCCLA Adviser and Student Portals. Only one submission per entry (team or individual) is required and must be completed before the first competition.
Email competitiveevents@fcclainc.org with any questions.
General Resources
Email competitiveevents@fcclainc.org with any STAR Event questions.
Online STAR Events
Online STAR Events focus on integrating Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) content through digital delivery. The following events also have an online preliminary round of competition at the national level.
Chapter advisers must register member entries by February 1 in the FCCLA Portal under the Meetings & Event tab to compete in the preliminary competition round.
The fee per participant is $25. During registration, active project URLs must be provided, and all projects must be ready for evaluation at that time. The chapter’s responsibility is to ensure that all project content is public and/or available to anyone with the link. FCCLA will not be reviewing the accessibility of individual project components.
The top 20 entries in each event and level will qualify to compete at the National Leadership Conference.
Contact competitiveevents@fcclainc.org to clarify any questions regarding these events.
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FCCLA Chapter Website
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who use a chapter website to educate, inform, and involve members and the general public about the importance of the family and consumer sciences program and the FCCLA chapter.
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Digital Stories For Change
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to actively identify an issue concerning families, careers, or communities; research the topic; and develop a digital story to advocate for positive change.
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Instructional Video Design
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities to research, plan, and create an instructional video to deliver content as part of a lesson unit of instruction.
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Red Talks on Education
An individual event recognizing participant(s) who prepare and deliver a TED Talk–style presentation on an education related–topic based on the annual scenario.
STAR Events
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Baking and Pastry
An individual event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their baking and pastry skills through the preparation of a quick bread, choux pastry, cookie, and cake decorating.
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Career Investigation
An individual event - recognizes participants for their ability to perform self-assessments, research and explore a career, set career goals, create a plan for achieving goals, and describe the relationship of Family and Consumer Sciences coursework to the selected career.
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Chapter in Review Display and Portfolio
A team event - recognizes chapters that develop and implement a well-balanced program of work and promote FCCLA and Family and Consumer Sciences and/or related occupations and skills to the community.
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Chapter Service Project Display and Portfolio
A team event - recognizes chapters that develop and implement an in-depth service project that makes a worthwhile contribution to families, schools, and communities. Students must use Family and Consumer Sciences content and skills to address and take action on a community need.
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Culinary Arts
An individual event - recognizes participants enrolled in occupational culinary arts/food service training programs for their ability to produce a quality meal using industrial culinary arts/food service techniques and equipment.
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Early Childhood Education
An individual event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their ability to use knowledge and skills gained from their enrollment in an occupational early childhood program.
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Entrepreneurship
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who develop a plan for a new small business using Family and Consumer Sciences skills and sound business practices. The business must relate to an area of Family and Consumer Sciences education or related occupations.
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Event Management
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who apply skills used in Family and Consumer Sciences courses to plan an event for an educational institution, community or non-profit organization, business, or government institution.
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Fashion Construction
An individual event- recognizes participants who apply fashion construction skills learned in Family and Consumer Sciences courses to create a display using samples of their skills.
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Fashion Design
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who apply fashion design skills learned in Family and Consumer Sciences courses to design and market clothing styles.
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Focus On Children
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who use Family and Consumer Sciences skills to plan and conduct a child development project that has a positive impact on children and the community.
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Food Innovations
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who demonstrate knowledge of the basic concepts of food product development by creating an original prototype formula, testing the product through focus groups, and developing a marketing strategy.
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Hospitality, Tourism and Recreation
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their knowledge of the hospitality, tourism, and recreation industries and ability to translate their knowledge into a hypothetical or real business. Project must relate to culinary, lodging, recreation, tourism, or event coordination.
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Interior Design
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who apply interior design skills learned in Family and Consumer Sciences courses to design to meet client needs.
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Interpersonal Communications
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who use Family and Consumer Sciences and/or related occupations skills and apply communication techniques to develop a project designed to strengthen communication.
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Job Interview
An individual event - recognizes participants who use Family and Consumer Sciences and/or related occupations skills to develop a portfolio, participate in an interview, and communicate a personal understanding of job requirements.
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Leadership
An individual event - recognizes participants who actively evaluate and grow in their leadership potential. Participants investigate their leadership ability, assess leadership and employability skills, and develop and implement a plan to further their leadership development.
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National Programs In Action
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who explain how the FCCLA Planning Process was used to implement a national program project.
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Nutrition and Wellness
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who track food intake and physical activity for themselves, their family, or a community group and determine goals and strategies for improving their overall health.
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Parliamentary Procedure
A team event - recognizes chapters that develop a working knowledge of parliamentary law and the ability to conduct an FCCLA business meeting.
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Personal Finance: Presented by EVERFI
An individual STAR Event that challenges students to apply Family and Consumer Sciences and financial literacy knowledge from EVERFI to real-life financial scenarios. Participants will set SMART financial goals, create budgets, track spending, and adjust plans based on their experiences and insights gained from EVERFI’s financial education digital lessons. This competition promotes financial well-being and empowers students to make informed financial decisions.
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Professional Presentation
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who make an oral presentation about issues concerning Family and Consumer Sciences and/or related occupations.
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Promote and Publicize FCCLA
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who use communications skills and techniques to educate their schools and communities about FCCLA with the intention of growing chapters and strengthening FCS and FCCLA programs.
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Public Policy Advocate
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and ability to actively identify a local, state, national, or global concern, research the topic, identify a target audience and potential partnerships, form an action plan, and advocate for the issue in an effort to positively affect a policy or law.
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Repurpose and Redesign
An individual or team event - recognizes participants who select a used fashion, home, or other postconsumer item to recycle into a new product.
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Say Yes to FCS Education
An individual event - recognizes participants who demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed to explore and experience the career of being a Family and Consumer Sciences educator. Participants must prepare a portfolio, conduct classroom observations, plan and execute a lesson, develop an FCCLA integration plan, and deliver an oral presentation.
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Sports Nutrition
An individual or team event, recognizes participants who use Family and Consumer Sciences skills to plan and develop an individualized nutritional plan to meet the needs of a competitive student athletic in a specific sport.
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Sustainability Challenge
An individual or team event - recognizes participants that address environmental issues that adversely impact human health and well-being and who actively empower others to get involved.
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Teach or Train
An individual event - recognizes participants for their exploration of the education and training fields through research and hands-on experience.
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Teaching Strategies
An individual event recognizing participant(s) who exhibit knowledge, expertise and competency in incorporating research–based teaching strategies into an original Lesson Plan Activity for any grade level and content area. Participant(s) must prepare a portfolio and a resource container to justify their teaching strategy selections through an in–person role–play where the participant acts as the teacher and the evaluator acts as the student.