Let's Taco 'Bout FCS!

Host:  Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky

Guest: Kayla Godbey, Family and Consumer Sciences State Program Consultant, KY Department of Education

0:02 Welcome to Talking FACS; what you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.

0:21 Dr. Hunter: Hello and welcome back to Talking FACS. This is your host, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.

Today, I'm pleased to have joining us a special guest, Kayla Godbey, with the Kentucky Department of Education. She is a state program consultant for Family and Consumer Sciences. Welcome, Kayla.

0:40 Kayla Godbey: Thank you so much for having me today.

0:42 Dr. Hunter: I am excited for you to be here today. So, as hopefully our listeners know, the title of our podcast is Talking FACS. And that FACS (F-A-C-S) stands for Family And Consumer Sciences.

And I think often I notice, at least on my social media feed, that there'll be articles posted by different folks and they all have a similar title, but it tends to go along the lines of bring back FCS. And they're often talking about the importance of the skills taught within family and consumer sciences curriculum, predominantly life skill type programming and how important it is for young people to acquire those skills.

So, I'm thrilled that you're here with us today, just so that we can talk a little bit about the status of family consumer sciences and what it looks like in schools in Kentucky today.

1:33 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. Well, we are alive and well and we're growing, which is so exciting. We service a little over 45 thousand students on an annual basis. And we have three hundred and fifteen family and consumer sciences teachers statewide. Those teachers are involved in about 210 program. So, there's lots of great things happening across the state and we certainly never went away.

1:58 Dr. Hunter: And I think that's an important message to help folks understand that we are here, we are alive and well and thriving. But also appreciating that individuals do recognize that the skills that we teach within family consumer sciences are vital for young people.

Would you care to share just a little bit about what falls under the family consumer sciences umbrella in terms of topics that students may learn in school?

2:21 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. We have seven career pathways that students can take a sequence of courses in. Those seven areas are consumer and family management; culinary and food services; early childhood education; fashion and interior design; food science and dietetics; fundamentals of teaching; and hospitality, travel, tourism and recreation.

And as students are involved in taking courses in those different areas that they may be interested in, they have the opportunity to earn industry certifications and they have the opportunity to be involved in work-based learning opportunities such as apprenticeships or internships. And they even have the opportunity to earn articulation agreements or articulated credit with post-secondary institutions.

3:04 Dr. Hunter: So, let's talk a little bit more about a few of those things, because as our listeners know, I have a high schooler and I talk quite a bit about my kids in general.

But just about my high schooler; when you mention industry certifications, we'll hear an example of that be. And what would that mean to a high school student?

3:23 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. So, let's use the culinary and food services career pathway for an example. Students in this career pathway might earn their ServSafe Food Manager credential, which is a great credential that they would need in entry-level positions.

And I'm telling you that if I were a restaurant owner and I had a student come to me who already earned their ServSafe Food Manager, I would be incredibly impressed. And that's one credential.

In the early childhood field, we offer the Child Development Associate. So, we have high school students across our state who are walking out with their CDA, which is also very impressive, and they're just gaining a lot of skills and they're proving that to earn in these industry certifications and it certainly makes them job ready.

4:03 Dr. Hunter: And I think that that's so important because my highschooler is 15 and he does want a job, but it's hard for a 15-year old in general to find a job. But he's filled out a couple of job applications. And when it asks for skills or certifications, he has to leave those blank.

And I tried to explain to him often that there's so many folks that apply for jobs, especially when you're young, and that they have so many individuals to choose from, that he really needs to do something so that he can fill in those blanks to make himself stand out on an application.

4:36 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. And it does help students get those entry-level jobs and that helps them climb up the ladder. And even if they're not going to stay in that particular field or that particular job forever, it's a great steppingstone for them while they're in college or even if they entered into the workforce directly post-high school.

4:53 Dr. Hunter: And I also want to circle back. You mentioned the opportunity for students to earn college credit while in high school. Could you share with us a little bit more about that?

5:02 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. We have a lot of dual credit opportunities for our students across the state with various post-secondary institutions. And then also when I was referring back to the articulated credit, that goes to our students who earn or pass our end of program assessment.

So, we have five different end of program assessments in family and consumer sciences. And so as students pass those assessments, they do earn credit hours at various post-secondary institutions.

5:28 Dr. Hunter: So, if a student scores a minimum score on essentially kind of an interviewer tests, then they have the opportunity to earn college credit. Which is another big thing that I keep pushing with my kiddo too, of how important that is. And that being able to start college with kind of credits already in the bank just puts you a step ahead as well.

5:46 Kayla Godbey: Definitely.

5:48 Dr. Hunter: Another topic that I wanted us to discuss today is that there is a very big day coming up soon for family and consumer sciences, and that is on December 3rd. Can you tell us a little bit about that day and what it means for family and consumer sciences?

6:03 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. I'm really excited that the American Association of Family Consumer Sciences established this day several years ago. We've been very eager to participate each and every year.

But Family Consumer Sciences Day is simply a day where we can take the opportunity to remind people that we're still here and that we're alive and well. And to remind people what failing consumer sciences is.

And so and we just have a lot of fun with this day. We actually ask all of our students or challenge all of our teachers, rather, to plan different lessons that day, revolving around the concept, dinning. We want to encourage students and families to sit around the dinner table at night together and to eat with their families because we know that's an incredibly important time. I mean, it just improves communication. And we eat healthier meals when we sit around our dinner table together, when we prepare our own meals.

And so it's a great day to shout to the rooftops what family and consumer sciences is and to remind people that we're still here.

7:02 Dr. Hunter: And I love this year that you're promoting the theme for dinning is “Let's Taco about FCS.” So, for our group here on campus, we're actually planning a Taco fiesta for December 3rd. And we have several ways that we're going to engage our local county extension offices and our county extension agents to celebrate FCS days. But could you share with us some of the plans that are FCS teachers across the state have?

7:29 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. So, I'd want to share that the Kentucky Association Teachers of Family and Consumer Sciences State Board (the KATBACK State Board for short). We had a meeting back in October and we were just kind of sitting around the table talking about what we could do to make this day even more fun and even more exciting than it already is.

And just quickly, it escalated to the fact that we were going to do a fiesta. And we decided since it was also Taco Tuesday, it was just the perfect, perfect mix.

And so and we decided to sell some Taco shirts to get everybody excited. We know that we want people to promote family and consumer sciences on social media.

And just sharing the same message and people seeing that same shirt over and over all day long on their news feed, I think is incredibly important in our branding. And if we're not having fun in family and consumer sciences, then how is anyone else ever going to get excited about our profession? And so I think we need to lead the way.

And so, the KATBACK’s board challenged all of our teachers to participate, to plan some type of meal with their faculty, with their families and also with their students, so that they could take those home.

And some of our teachers even prepare take-home meals that the students can take back home to their families.

8:41 Dr. Hunter: Oh, wow.

8:42 Kayla Godbey: So, that's always exciting.

8:43 Dr. Hunter: Oh, no. I would be thrilled if my kiddo came home with dinner. That is for sure. For sure.

How could our listeners get more involved or learn more about either Dining Day or celebrating FCS Day or just more about family consumer sciences in general?

9:00 Kayla Godbey: Sure. Well, I would certainly encourage you to utilize the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences webpage. They can be found on www.aafcs.org/fcsday.

On there, you’re going to see a lot of resources that you can utilize. You can order stickers and you can also make a pledge saying that you are making a commitment to dining with your family on Tuesday, December the 3rd.

9:24 Dr. Hunter: Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today, Kayla. I'm looking forward to December 3rd. And as you said, seeing all the activities that everyone is doing on social media will be lots of fun to watch.

9:36 Kayla Godbey: Absolutely. We're looking forward to it.

9:38 Dr. Hunter: Thank you.

9:39 Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement.

If you enjoy today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea, leave a ‘Like’ and comment on Facebook @UKFCSExt.

Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension program or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. We build strong families. It starts with us.