Garfield/Palouse grad earns gold at FCCLA

At the age of 17, Kelly Reiber of Palouse cleaned up a corner of her house, acquired a digital camera and set about making her own photography business.

One business license and 10 photo shoots later, Reiber won the state FCCLA award in entrepreneurship and found herself and her Palouse FCCLA advisor on a plane to Nashville this summer for the national FCCLA conference.

FCCLA stands for Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America.

The state award had 24 categories a student could win. Over 100 students from Washington State went on to the national competition.

“My favorite part was probably going out and taking the photographs, but I also really like the show. I liked to see people’s reaction toward my artwork,” Reiber said.

Her mentor, Mickie Sell, teacher of family and consumer sciences at Palouse, was by her side during their week in Nashville- a week which Reiber said delighted her.

“Everything was way overpriced but it was so glamorous and beautiful that it wasn’t that big a deal,” Reiber said. “We hit all the tourist spots.”

They visited the historic Del Meade plantation, one still used for a few race horses today, and several art galleries.

Once at nationals, the student’s projects were ranked against a gold, silver, or bronze rating and not against each other. Reiber ended up scoring a 98 in the gold.

“She met kids from all over the U.S. <and> near where she is going to college,” Sell said. “She fundraised like crazy to be able to go.”

Indeed, to scrape up the $1,500 it took to pull off the trip, Reiber picked up aluminum cans around Palouse during her school year, worked after-school shifts at Subway, and did more fund-raising at Haunted Palouse, Sell said.

Reiber said when she was originally building the business, which she also completed for her senior project at Palouse, the hardest part was getting people to take her photography skills seriously.

“I had people who supported me but there were some people who were like, ‘Nice, that’s nice- you have a little job.’ They didn’t realize I had created a 50 page business plan and had a business license in the state of Washington,” Reiber said.

Today, she is in her first term at Lafayette Beauty Academy in Indiana, and plans afterward to go Kendall College in Illinois.

“I really enjoy this kind of thing, working with people and socializing and doing their hair and nails,” she said.