Winning a trip to Florida is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and for 11 Litchfield Middle Schoolers, they plan to take full advantage of the beaches, ocean and, of course, Disney World.

The middle school students will travel to Orlando, Fla., in July to participate in the national Family, Career and Community Leaders of America convention. The students received bids to the competition after earning the top scores at the state convention two weeks ago.

“We’re pumped. It’s really exciting,” eighth-grader Kaitlyn Johnson said.

FCCLA is a national organization that helps young men and women become leaders by addressing personal, family, work and societal issues through Family and Consumers Sciences Education. During the course of a school year, students develop projects, called STAR events, that impact their schools, communities and career preparation.

Litchfield sent 34 student-presenters to the state convention April 24-26. Advisers Julie Rick and Katie McGraw said the students developed some strong projects this year.

“They’re a unique group of kids this year,” McGraw said. “They’re very goal-oriented. They not only wanted to do well (at state), but they wanted to win.”

When Saturday’s award ceremony came about, many of the students said they were surprised to earn first place since most are first-year FCCLA participants. Litchfield won first in four of 17 categories.

“I was really excited,” said seventh-grader Walker Kaping as he described hearing his team earned first place in its event division. “I couldn’t feel my legs when I walked up there.”

Sam Gruenke, a seventh-grader, said he’s still recovering from his partner Skylar Borchardt’s shouts of excitement. “My ears are still ringing,” he said.

Read more about the LMS FCCLA chapter's performance at the state convention in the May 8 Independent Review.