On Saturday, January 7, members of the JP Stevens chapter of Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) attended the 14th annual Leadership Bootcamp at JP Stevens. The event was organized by the New Jersey state chapter to provide leadership skills to members as well as bonding time with other FCCLA members from across the state. The event was led by former New Jersey FCCLA alumni and leadership trainers Ms. Catherine DiGioia-Weinfeld and Mr. Bill Plastine through a Zoom meeting. Being former state and national officers, they utilized their leadership experience to help open the door for plenty of workshops focused on leadership opportunities and activities for members who attended the boot camp.

 “Leadership Bootcamp has been my favorite FCCLA conference since I was in middle school,” said JP FCCLA President junior Saheli Brennan. “I always enjoyed being able to interact with members from across the state in interactive information sessions.”

Towards the first half of the boot camp, Bill Plastine and Catherine DiGioia-Weinfeld discussed the lessons in the book provided to members titled 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People, by Gary Chapman and Paul White. In this portion of the session, members were partaking in a watch party as well as learning about the five languages of communication with others and how to utilize these five languages regarding leadership. 

“From the most recent boot camp, I learned all about appreciation and love languages,” said senior Ananya Singhal. “They had a quiz and from that, I realized what my own love language is. I also learned my conflict language and that’s helpful to deal with everyday struggles.”

Afterward, a break was provided where members were able to treat themselves to delicious brownies and crumb cakes provided by JP FCCLA members. The next session focused on FCCLA trivia as well as spending time with FCCLA members from across the state with various activities. 

“Throughout this event, I got to interact with many other members across New Jersey and talk to them about their experiences in FCCLA,” said sophomore Malav Shah. “Also, I got to get closer with the members from my own chapter and get to know them better with all of the icebreakers and fun interactive activities that were part of the boot camp. Overall, throughout this event, I got to make a lot of new memories with my new friends and old friends.” 

When the leadership boot camp came to an end, members were left with valuable lessons regarding the skills taught at the boot camp. 

“I learned that the five love languages can actually play a role in how to treat others in the workplace!” said junior Amanda Chen, a state officer from JP. “While we may have a primary language that we respond to, it is important to be attentive to how other people like being recognized for their hard work and accomplishments. From giving public shoutouts to speaking to someone privately, there is a large range of what people are comfortable with, and learning how to best appreciate others is a wonderful way to build trust within a team.”