Nansemond River High School family and consumer science students came away from a recent Family, Career and Community Leaders Conference of America with awards and a scholarship — and valuable life skills to boot.

Sophomore Joshua White believes he is on his way to a rewarding career after placing second in the Culinary Displays/Patisseries section, winning a $1,500 scholarship to attend the Culinary Institute of Virginia.

“I want to work in pastry and baking,” he said. “When I finish school, I will go there for a year.”

Junior Stephanie Falls, meanwhile, also came in second for her presentation and project in the Recycle and Redesign category, and is now eligible to attend the nationals in Orlando.

Sophomores Sandra Boateng and Louisa Gamore, and junior Jackie Miskin earned bronze medals for their project, titled “Focus on Children: Fighting Against Childhood Obesity.”

Miskin said she learned the value of time management: “We finished two weeks before the project was meant to be done, and others were still working on theirs that night.”

Teacher Sally Karadeema said the medals from the Virginia Beach event recognized the students’ hard work.

One student project raised $275 for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia, she said.

Some students made babies out of flour sacks, teaching parenting skills while the actual flour was donated to the food bank.

“We have meetings in class and after class, and the kids choose various things to compete in,” Karadeema said.

Falls said she could have done better at the conference, the first she has attended. “But I learned a lot of ways that I can improve to do better in the competition next year,” she said.

“I learned how to turn old jeans into handbags — I had never done something like that before. I also learned about recycling and the environment.”

White thinks his main lesson out of the conference and the class generally was to live a more selfless life.

“Personally, I have learned to focus more on others instead of myself, and to help others,” he said.

Karadeema also recognized junior Ashley McClain, who served as a general delegate for Nansemond River, and sophomore Taylor Worsley, who was scheduled to compete in the Culinary Display/Cakes section but fell ill and was unable to attend.