KHS student earns second place at FCCLA nationals

KEWAUNEE – Kyanna VanLanen, a senior at Kewaunee High School, competed in the FCCLA nationals this summer and took home second place in fashion construction.

The Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a national 501 nonprofit career and technical student organization for young men and women in family and consumer sciences education through grade 12 and postsecondary students. There are competitions held each year in over 50 categories, from baking to personal finance.

VanLanen’s passion for art and fashion design began in childhood with her father teaching her to draw and her grandmother teaching her to sew. She began to sew for fun in middle school, where she made toys for her younger sister.

“I would sew little stuffed animals for my sister,” VanLanen said, “So then I got the idea to sew outfits for her, and that’s really what pushed me into competing, because both years that I’ve done fashion construction as a competition, I made an outfit for my sister, and I really like doing that, and I love the way that she loves wearing them and she supports me with it.”

VanLanen joined the KHS FCCLA chapter her freshman year, and became an officer and competed for the first time her sophomore year. She became the president of the club in her junior year.

“I really like having the opportunity to make choices to help our chapter, and I like being able to speak in front of the chapter and share my words with them,” she said.

VanLanen was able to further hone her skills at school, where she took Intro to Sewing and Creative Textiles.

Fashion designs are judged based on required skills like lining, finished seams and buttons. Eight skills are required for each piece, but students can pick those skills from a longer list.

To make it to the national level of competition, VanLanen first had to compete at a regional, then state level. To qualify for state, she had to reach a score of at least 85. At the state level, she had to finish in the top two in order to move on to nationals.

VanLanen presented the same outfit at each level of competition — a maxi dress with ruffles, a denim jacket made from recycled materials and a clip-on hair bow — but had the opportunity to revise her design based on feedback from the judges. When presenting her design, she had the opportunity to give a ten-minute speech describing the details of her pieces, then the judges inspected the work in private.

According to VanLanen, her experience competing has changed greatly over the years.

“The very first year that I competed, I was not at all prepared at regionals, and it was kind of a crazy experience for me. And then I improved a lot from regional to state, and then I had no idea that I was going to go to nationals. I thought it was like a crazy dream of mine. Then I did it, and then I realized it was achievable, so I did it again,” VanLanen said.

Last year, VanLanen finished in the top ten nationwide, and she said she felt a bit of pressure to do even better this year.

“I knew I really wanted to improve and do even better,” she said.
Despite that, VanLanen didn’t expect to finish in second place, although she did have confidence in her design.

“It was a really cool experience. I did not expect it to happen at all. I knew my project was good, but I didn’t want to be too positive and have too much faith in myself,” she said.

After graduation, VanLanen will attend University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, where she is considering continuing her relationship with FCCLA.

“I’m not really interested in fashion design after high school. However, I have considered doing FCS education, which would basically be what my advisor does, and I could be an FCCLA advisor. However, I’ve also considered just doing business management after high school, so I’m still a little undecided,” she said.

VanLanen encourages other students to participate in FCCLA, where they can gain real-world experience and make connections or simply discover they enjoy something new.