By Julie Tomascik
Editor
Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) awarded Thalia Ponce-Serrano, a senior at Stamford High School, a $5,000 scholarship during the Texas Association, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) state conference.
Each year, TFB awards one scholarship to a state or regional officer of the Texas FCCLA who majors in a field of study related to family and consumer sciences.
“Texas Farm Bureau works with Texas FCCLA to grow our future leaders, because this area of study is related to agriculture,” McKenna Bush, TFB youth outreach coordinator, said. “Family and consumer sciences education offers students career paths in nutrition and culinary arts, textiles and clothing, consumer resource management and more, which all tie in closely with agriculture.”
Ponce-Serrano plans to attend Texas Tech University and major in family and consumer science education. She wants to be a family and consumer sciences teacher and an FCCLA advisor after graduation.
She is the state vice president of programs for Texas FCCLA and active in several activities through the organization. She previously served as the Region 1 vice president of achievement.
Ponce-Serrano was also a state event competitor in Life Event Planning, qualifying her for the national contest where she was awarded a gold medal and became the second-highest scoring individual of the event.
“When I first joined FCCLA, I didn’t know how much an impact it would have,” Ponce-Serrano said. “But joining FCCLA changed my life, and now I want to make it my career. It helped me grow confidence and leadership skills. FCCLA also allowed me opportunities to travel and meet other students and advisors.”
In addition to FCCLA, Ponce-Serrano is active in several other organizations and extracurricular activities at Stamford High School, including marching band, UIL academics, One Act Play, a class officer and Student Council secretary.
“I’m active in my school and my community, and I look at how far I’ve grown in the past four years,” Ponce-Serrano said. “I can attribute a lot of that to FCCLA and the opportunities I’ve had because of the organization.”
TFB District 4 State Director John Paul Dineen III presented the scholarship to Ponce-Serrano during the state conference.
Get more information on other youth opportunities available through TFB at texasfarmbureau.org/youth/youth-opportunities.