Washington D.C. was a trip to remember for three Lexington High School students who got the opportunity to share their Students Taking Action with Recognition projects on a national level when they ranked as the top two projects at state Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.
Both projects earned gold medals at the recent national conference.
Pictured from left to right: Jose Beltran, Sophia Burns and Sukaina Ahmed pose in front of a mural at Lexington High School as they celebrate earning two gold medals at the FCCLA national conference.
Seniors Sukaina Ahmed and Sophia Burns learned about “period poverty” — a term used to describe the cost of menstrual products and the way lower class households can struggle to purchase them — and saw a need in their community that they felt compelled to meet.
Sophomore Jose Beltran, then only a freshman, combined his passion for cooking with innovation and a desire to help his generation eat healthier by creating a green salsa with his project partner, Dana Vargas.
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Together these four students made an impact on their school and community by deep diving into their projects and implementing their findings.
Ahmed and Burns stated that when they learned about “pink tax” — how there is sales tax on menstrual products — they were shocked.
“I never thought about it before,” Burns said. “And I really wanted to help.”
“That tax adds more money to it,” Ahmed said. “We had to do a project to help our school and community, so we did period products.”
Ahmed and Burns gave a presentation at both the state and national FCCLA conference about period poverty in Lexington and how Tyson closing down could have impacted women.
They spoke about how they made it their mission to make sure none of the young women in their school had to worry about getting supplies for their cycles while in the building.
The two young women teamed up to stock Lexington High School restrooms with menstrual products and Ahmed said, “I liked seeing them disappear and being able to refill them.”
Polls were posted by the girls and they found that the products were appreciated in the school, where prior to this year female students would have to pay 50 cents for a tampon in the school office or at a vending machine.
Ahmed and Burns were excited that the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 1050 after it had been brought to them in 2024. The bill requires public schools to supply free menstrual products for middle and high school students.
Ahmed said she believes that this act is being implemented into Lexington Public Schools for the 2026-27 school year and that it is her understanding that the school itself has to purchase the products they supply, both she and Burns are hopeful that LB 1050 will help with period poverty in Lexington.
Ahmed and Burns earned second at state FCCLA.
Beltran and Vargas took a different approach to their STAR project. They chose to do a project that combined innovation with healthy eating and had a focus on teens. They had to create a healthy food item and test it on their peers.
The team went with a green salsa and designed their jar and label to be appealing to their generation. Beltran explained that they were required to provide nutrition facts about their product and that it “had to be healthy and beneficial for teens with modern packaging.”
Beltran has been interested in cooking for as long as he could remember and he wanted to try something fun.
By doing his project on innovation and healthy eating he was able to attend a culinary class and expand his knowledge of culinary techniques.
Beltran and Vargas won first at state.
Beltran was excited to have the opportunity to go to Washington D.C. for nationals and share their project on a bigger scale. Unfortunately, Vargas could not attend with him due to family obligations.
Ahmed, Burns and Beltran packed their bags in July and headed to Washington D.C., after fundraising throughout the school year and summer for the trip.
They raised money through concessions, sucker sales and bake sales, with Ahmed saying that they were “grateful to the Lexington community and businesses for supporting them.”
While in Washington D.C., the trio presented their projects and went on several tours.
Burns and Ahmed stated that since both of them love the Broadway play “Hamilton” they took founding father wigs with them on the trip and wore them site seeing.
“Wearing them together on the monument night tour was probably my favorite memory,” Ahmed said.
The girls stated that they had learned about the monuments during their junior year of high school while taking a western civilization class and that being able to see them in person was a great experience.
Beltran said that he enjoyed experiencing a really big city for the first time and “I liked seeing a lot of new things and faces.”
He also shared that there was a bagel shop across the street from their hotel that he adored and went to every day in Washington D.C.
At the FCCLA National Leadership Conference, the three teenagers brought home two gold medals.
There were over 10,000 FCCLA members in attendance from across the 50 states and American territories. The conference gave them the chance to network and meet other high schoolers from across the country.
Burns and Ahmed earned gold for their chapter service project focused on period poverty and Beltran earned gold for his in the food innovations category.
“Even though this is only my second year of FCCLA, I’ve learned a lot. It has opened me up to a lot more opportunity’s,” Burns said. “It’s an amazing organization.”
“Even though we’re a small town, if you really put your mind into something and work hard, you can still accomplish a lot and go to nationals,” Beltran said.
For anyone interested in learning more about FCCLA or the STAR program a FCCLA kick-off meeting will be held Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at the high school. All high schoolers and their families are invited to attend.
