I’d love to say that I’m sorry and I’m finally done talking about FCS (family & consumer sciences), but I’d be lying. Because I’m going to keep talking about FCS for one more post, just give me one more post and also because I don’t even feel bad. I love FCS. If you don’t love your major three blog posts’ worth, switch majors.
Wow, but don’t blame me once you’ve done it. I hope that doesn’t become a thing.
At any rate, the reason I’m bringing it up this time is that on the subject of FCS and of how I switched to FCS, I come back to the student orgs thing, which I incidentally already mentioned. But I’m going to pull it all together this time.
Full circle. Because before I joined /everything/, I had to join /something/. And the first thing I joined was the student org for the FCS major–Stevens Point Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. I went for the first time right as I started the intro course for FCS, and actually funny story I was voted vice president at my very first meeting. I just have one of those faces, I guess. It was cool though! I spent that whole semester learning from the VP at the time, Sarah Hesser, who’s since graduated and who last time I spoke to her was actually teaching FCS just a couple towns over from where I grew up. Small world, man.
But she introduced me to the idea of how the org ran, and she showed me how to do all the paperwork, and she also taught me something very dear to my heart: how to run a bake sale. I’d like to think I went on to make her proud. I run a mean bake sale, let me tell you. I learned more than that, though. Through SPAFCS I met people in my major and I got to know about what classes I’d be taking later on and what professors are like, and I got to know more about what an actual FCS lesson plan can look like.
This is my third year in SPAFCS, my third semester as VP. I like it an awful lot, I have to say. It’s a phenomenal opportunity for FCS majors, truly. As an organization, we dedicate ourselves to developing the skills we’ll take into the classroom. We go to conferences, the costs of which are subsidized by our budget; we network with professionals inside and outside of the classroom, including speakers who bring us things and veteran FCS teachers who give us their tricks of the trade. We participate in activities that we can make lesson plans out of, and we share a lot of curriculum ideas. We work together on projects of philanthropy. We judge regional and state-wide competitions related to the field of FCS. Big, important stuff. We look pretty good on paper.
And we get to know one another. It’s a really good feeling to get to know somebody in your major–to have someone who knows what you’re going through in your program and whom you can ask for help when you need it. Common classes, common interests, common values. And yet in FCS especially, we’re all so different! It’s really cool to pool ideas and come up with projects and events to do together, to help us develop as professionals and future teachers, and also as friends. This networking will be invaluable for us, and it’s great to have people to share a ride with to something related to FCS, or to have a structure present to help if you would like to go to a conference but it seems imposing or you don’t know how to do it on your own. SPAFCS is great at all these things and more.
It’s also ridiculously fun. Everything we do together, regardless what aspect of our development it addresses, is fun. It’s related to the interests of the members, all of whom are going to take their own specialties and skills and favorite parts of the field into their classroom someday. I’m a foods and food sciences kind of gal; on the other hand, my friend Julie (the president) is really into health ed. Tooootally different, same field. It’s cool that we share things! Some of us like to bake and cook and learn about foods; some of us are into textiles and sewing. Another executive member, Kim, is really into interior design and architecture. And we’re in the same major, and we’re in the same club. We learn together and we learn from each other. Aaaand that’s why student orgs rock. It’s cool to have a foundation in your major or in your other interests–you can share a lot with other people, and it really enriches your time in your program or just your time here at college. Worth every second, every penny, to have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills, to become as great as you possibly can at what you do for work or for fun, or for both!
Like so many other things, I can’t recommend it enough.
-Amy
Amy Vida is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point majoring in family & consumer sciences and English.