Sophia Harsh all but has her mind made up that she wants to become a dietician when she is older. Her current experience with the Tracy Area High School FCCLA group has only reinforced her desire.
Harsh was joined by fellow freshmen Kaylie Johnson and Karson Schneider in qualifying for the FCCLA National Tournament last week. None of the three will end up traveling to Florida for this year’s national contest, choosing instead to raise money to do so in 2026 if they make it that far once again.
FCCLA stands for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit career and technical student organization for high school students in Family and Consumer Sciences education through grade 12 and postsecondary students.
Harsh focused her regional Star Event, which is in the professional presentation category, portion sizes in America, and more specifically, the obesity epidemic.
“I was in the category of ‘Eat Well, Live Well,’ and to get to nationals I was up against every category of professional presentation, but I got second,” Harsh said. “This is a two-year presentation, and I’m planning on doing it for the rest of high school, but just changing it every time.” Harsh said food science is behind the times in terms of the food pyramid, but she learned that food lobbyists make the big decisions.
“Sweets and fats became their own food group, which is really weird because fat is not a food,” she said. “I don’t know how that got into a food group, but it really screwed with the public perception. Sweets and fats are the least important, so you should stay away from that.”
Harsh said the food pyramid villainizes foods like eggs because they are high in cholesterol.
“Obesity rates early skyrocketed because of all the misinformation,” Harsh said. “And according to the food pyramid, you need six to 11 servings of grains … but according to the food pyramid, you need those six to 11 servings, but only three to four servings of vegetables. Eleven servings of grains is half a loaf of bread — everyday.”
Johnson and Schneider teamed up for their Star event in fashion design, and created and marketed special onesies for babies. Johnson took care of the drawing and sewing aspects of the onesies, while Schneider focused on the business side, such as costs and what type of material would be best to use.
The special part about their project is the onesies actually are designed to grow with the child. To pull that off, they decided to use bamboo fabric.
“It’s a very stretchy, lightweight but durable fabric — you can create a 0-3 onesie that the baby can still wear up until they’re more than 1-year-old,” Schneider said. “It grows with the child, so the parents don’t have to spend as much money on other onesies. With these, you can keep them longer.”
Johnson said the duo didn’t know anything about bamboo fabric until talking with FCCLA advisor Mary Leach, who uses bamboo cloth items on her new baby.
“She brought it up and we thought it was a good idea,” she said. “They’re stretchy, and they are safe. It stretches like Spandex and feels really soft. and breathable so you can do multiple layers. It’s easy to work with.”
Owen Beier, Alex Moua, Karson Schneider, Kaylie Johnson and Brooklynn Gilbery. Submitted photo PICTURED FROM LEFT, ARE TAHS FCCLA ADVISOR MARY LEACH, Sophia Harsh, Marcus Vue,
