For the first time, Mapleton Jr High had an active Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) Chapter, thanks to Bonny Groneman, the Family Consumer Science teacher/FCCLA Adviser who started running a competitive FCCLA program at Mapleton Jr High. Although over the years they have done multiple service projects for their community and school, the opportunity for these students to compete and improve themselves individually and as a leader at regional, state, and national levels was not a reality until 2023. Jennilyn Hess and Hannah Brown were fully invested in their STAR event projects. Jennilyn has always had a passion for little kids and thinks that teaching might be the career for her. In FCCLA, Jennilyn was able to choose to do a project called 'Teach or Train'. This project would really let her explore this idea of what being an educator looks like. Jennilyn spent a few hours teaching 1st-grade students about the four seasons. She worked with the classroom teacher to decide on the topic, then she created the lesson plan, activities, and an evaluation of learning. Her mom, Kristine Hess said "I think it's incredible the opportunities these kids can have by joining these types of programs. Because she wasn't in high school yet, I had to take her to National FCCLA in Denver, Colorado and it was great to see how much fun it is for these kids and I didn't realize how huge FCCLA is across the nation". Jennilyn said "I always wanted to be a 1st-grade teacher, but then I got to do this project and I was like, WOW! This is exactly what I want to do!"