Alvarado High School junior Faith Bates took second place in cupcake presentation last week at the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) state conference last week.

Overall, AHS had six scholars compete in everything from cupcake presentation to the Family Consumer Science Knowledge Assessment (FCSA) competition.

“I’m so proud of our scholars for the hard work they put in,” FCCLA teacher Alesia Gibbons said. “They came up with everything for the cupcakes – the recipe, designs and the toppings. We even used a 3D printer to make candy molds.

“Our FCSA kids really have to know their subject to do well on those tests. It makes them true experts in their competition fields.”

AHS senior Kaylee Johnson and junior Jacie Brown both placed in the top 10 at the state competition in cupcake presentation and cupcake battle respectively. Junior Kendall Bueno also competed in the cupcake battle.

Sophomores Trinity Summers and Bree Jones competed in the FCSA portion of the event. Summers received gold and Jones earned a silver medal for being among the top finishers in the state.

Those who placed high at the regional and state meets qualify for scholarship money and with her second-place finish Bates has now earned $6,250 total. Johnson, Brown and Bueno have all received $1,500 scholarships.

“This year we had a tougher competition because of COVID restrictions,” Gibbons said. Our scholars won scholarships at regional and state competitions. This is the fourth year in a row we’ve had someone advanced and then place at state. I’m so proud of our kids.”

AHS also had senior Kaleigh Norrid, who was later year’s regional and state vice president, participate at the state competition as she was asked to judge events and train others.