Abby Packard had been there before.
 
In July 2024 at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Seattle, Packard – having just finished her freshman year at Mission Valley – was sitting on stage with classmate Paige Kibbee awaiting the announcement of the top three in their Star Event, Event Management. They had already made the top eight, but the prospect of finishing in the top three had them on the edge of their seats.
 
Alas, they didn’t hear their name called, learning afterwards they had finished eighth.
 
“It was definitely a big deal getting to be up on that stage,” Packard said. “I remember waiting for our name to get called top three, and it didn’t happen. Of course, we were disappointed, but I was just really excited that we had even gotten that far. I said, ‘Next year, I’m going to pick something I’m even more passionate about so that I can put more work into it.’”
 
Flash forward to last July and there Packard was, back on stage in Orlando once again in the final eight awaiting the announcements for the top three, this time in the Star Event she’d chosen to tackle alone last year, Early Childhood Education. She was already riding a bit of a high as fellow Mission Valley FCCLA members, freshmen Annie Bryan and Keagan Kraus, had finished runner-up in their event, Chapter in Review Portfolio – their award presentation having already occurred.
 
Waiting for her event to take the stage, Packard was a bundle of nerves. Excited for her teammates, she also wasn’t sure she’d done enough to match or top their accomplishment.
 
“I remember calling my mom and telling her, ‘I think that’s the worst I’ve ever done,’” Packard said of a call to her mother, Sarah, after she’d finished her Star Event. “I didn’t feel like I had a good enough activity. I felt like I was speaking very quickly. I told her I didn’t smile enough. Honestly, it was the worst I’d ever felt in that environment. So I was like, ‘Mom, I didn’t win. It was so bad. It was rough.’ 
 
“I was so excited for (Bryan and Kraus). I was hoping I just had done as good as them, but either way I was going to be really happy for them.”
 
When she didn’t hear her name announced in the second or third-place positions, Packard’s hopes diminished. But then …
 
“They always tell you to make sure you’re smiling on stage, so I was smiling and looking around,” she said. “I heard them announce third place and it wasn’t me and I was like, ‘Oh darn.’ And then they announced second place and it wasn’t me and I was disappointed again. I was sure I hadn’t won so I remember telling myself, ‘It’s OK to be disappointed, but you’re still going to go off and be excited for your friends because they were runners-up and that’s amazing.’  And then they said, ‘First place, Mission Valley.’
 
“If you can see the pictures they took of me, my jaw completely dropped and I was very shocked. I just froze for a second and when I walked up, I think my jaw was still dropped when I stepped on the podium. Then I started smiling. I do look a little goofy, but I think it’s the best picture because it’s exactly how I felt. You could tell how exciting it is and how much it meant to me.”
 
A National FCCLA Champion as a sophomore, Packard is this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week.
 

 
“It’s a huge deal,” Mission Valley FCCLA sponsor Gina Bergin said. “You compete against hundreds of other kids at nationals after going through regionals and state. She’s a really hard worker and she really poured everything she had into it.
 
“It doesn’t happen very often. She not only got that feeling of making the podium, but finishing on top of the podium and that was really cool. I was trying to record it with my phone and when they said, ‘First place, Mission Valley,’ I got so excited I dropped my phone on the floor so we don’t have a video of her winning because I got so excited.”
 
Bergin’s excitement surrounding Packard actually began well before she joined Mission Valley’s Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) organization. A longtime teacher at the school, she’s known Packard for most of her life with her parents both involved with education in the district – Ben Packard a former history teacher and currently the assistant K-12 principal and athletic director and Sarah an occupational therapist for USD 501 in Topeka who comes to Mission Valley one day a week.
 
Even as Packard was in the early stages of her academic journey, Bergin recognized her talents.
 
“I have the kids for the first time in eighth grade, but I’ve known her most of her life because of her parents and I knew from a young age that she would be a good FCCLA member,” Bergin said. “But I didn’t know she’d be a great FCCLA member. She has really stepped up, especially this year as an upperclassmen and taken on a big leadership role in our organization. She’s taken the lead on getting younger members involved and helped them grow as leaders too, which is a really cool thing to see.
 
“From her coming in as a freshman officer and not really knowing what she was doing to being a junior helping those freshman who don’t know what they’re doing and getting them doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
 
Which has been a part of Packard’s nature from an early age. The daughter of two parents involved in education, it’s something she developed an interest in pursuing at a young age.
 
“From a young age, it really started,” she said. “When I was younger I would play school with my friends. Even if they didn’t want to I was like, ‘Nope, we’re doing it.’ In junior high, I usually did pretty well in school and my classmates would ask me for help. When we had a substitute teacher for the day I would go around the classroom and help my peers out.
 
“That just always made me happy, seeing people understand it and I helped them get there. In high school I took an early childhood education class and we got to do more of the teaching aspect and go down to the preschool and read to them and teach them different things. I just loved it so much, getting to teach them.”
 
Once she hit junior high, Ben suggested joining FCCLA, knowing it would appeal to her interests. And it has.
 
“It just has a lot of things that are important to me like family, and teaching,” Packard said. “I just love FCS classes. One of the classes we have to take in junior high was an intro to FCS and that was my favorite class. I wanted to learn more so I joined FCCLA.
 
“The people in FCCLA, all of our members and our advisor, were definitely a big influence on me. I just think there are so many great people in it and I’ve made so many good friends because of it and become closer with a lot of people who are like-minded. We do so many community service events and competitive events and that’s allowed me to research and learn and grow my skills. The continual support from my advisor and members. We get to travel and go places that give us even more experiences and you don’t just get that anywhere. I think it’s really helpful.”
 
A balance of service and competition is right in Packard’s wheelhouse.
 
One of her first instances of giving back to the community was going with members of her church, Cornerstone Community Church, and serving meals at the Topeka Rescue Mission. She said that experience really stuck with her and any chance she gets, she jumps at the opportunity to give back.
 
Sarah’s job as an occupational therapist has lent to many opportunities in volunteering at Special Olympics competitions, like track and swim meets and Packard said the joy she gets from working those events is only surpassed by the joy she sees from the participants themselves.
 
“It’s just a great time and everyone’s always just so happy to be there to compete,” she said. “It just makes your heart happy to help out. It’s just a fun time.
 
“I’ve just always liked to help people. Sometimes I’m a bit of a people-pleaser, but I don’t think that has anything to do with service. I just like doing things that give back to those that need help. Just seeing the way you can impact people just makes me really happy. Doing things for people that are less fortunate than I am is important to me. If you have time, you should always be giving back and making other people’s lives better. That’s always been a big deal to me and is important to me.”
 
So too has competition. Packard is a three-sport athlete at Mission Valley, competing in volleyball, basketball and track and field.
 
She’s ranked second on the Vikings in kills each of her first two volleyball seasons and this year is the team’s far-and-away kills leader. She was Mission Valley’s leader in rebounds last basketball season and last fall, she qualified for the State Outdoors Track and Field Championships in the shot put.
 
Packard channels that competitive nature off the playing field as well, which has played a big part in her FCCLA success. After her eighth-place finish at nationals as a freshman, Packard said that only sparked her desire to become a national champion and once she settled on Early Childhood Education last year as her Star Event, she poured herself into it.
 
“I just dedicated a lot of time working on it,” Packard said, noting she began working on it in September. “The hard part about the Early Childhood is you had to do a case study and you only had 20 minutes to create the lesson plan. There were all of these different parts to it. It was a little daunting and I had to do a lot of practice runs for that. I had to do a lot of research to make good lesson plans. But Ms. Bergin said I was creative and good at thinking on the spot.”
 
Packard’s task in the case study presented to her at nationals was to plan a way to introduce the circus to 4 and 5-year-old children. Not only did she have to come up with the type of lesson and instructional strategies, but also had to make a lesson objective and assessment as well as modifications for six different students to that everyone could learn the subject matter.
 
“It definitely surprised me when I got the case study,” she said. “I think I sat there for a full minute before I wrote anything down. I remember telling my mom afterwards, ‘The person that gave me the sheet was probably thinking my goodness she has no idea what to do,’ because I just sat there for a full minute.”
 
Once the initial shock wore off, Packard set to work and developed what became a national championship-winning presentation.
 
“I thought the best way to introduce it to little kids was maybe show them some pictures or some videos, things like that, about the circus,” she said. “Have discussions about that beforehand, have people tell stories if they’d been before. And then actually allow kids to put on their own circus like a dramatic play. I just think that’s really good hands-on learning for younger kids and it would be a good way to incorporate that. 
 
“For the students that needed modifications, I had stations to start the circus – making sets, making a poster before they actually started the event. That went over really well with the judges, having different stations for the kids so they could move on and not get bored with one thing.”
 
In addition to competing in her Star Event at nationals, Packard also took on the additional task of competing in three challenge events. Though she didn’t win a national title in those, she finished second in Early Childhood Development, fourth in Teaching and sixth in Lesson Plan Modification.
 
“It was busy and very impressive,” Bergin said. “She’d never done the challenge tests. But I said, ‘Let’s try it out and see what happens,’ and she wanted to do all the ones related to teaching because she felt that would be good experience.”
 
This year, Packard has her sights set on winning a national champion in the Star Event Teach and Train, one in which former Viking Clara Johnston won a national championship in in 2024.
 
“I definitely do feel very motivated,” she said. “I talk to my friends about this, wanting to go back and get on that stage again and hopefully bring home another plaque.”
 
That passion is something Bergin sees Packard passing along to her fellow FCCLA members, something she’ll be able to impact even more as the vice president of competitive events for the organization this year. She’ll help her peers pick out what competitive events they should do and then help them with planning calendars, formatting portfolios and other actions to set them up for a successful presentation.”
 
“She is like my right-hand man,” Bergin said. “It’s really helpful to have kids that understand our organization as well as Abby does because it makes my job as an advisor easier. She is so willing to step up without being asked and that’s what sets her apart from other kids. I don’t have to say, ‘Hey Abby, so-and-so needs help with a project. She recognizes that need and that’s the kind of kid she is. She jumps right in to help them and that’s been really beneficial to our chapter over the past few years.”
 
In addition to her participation in FCCLA, Packard also is a member of Mission Valley’s Book Club and this year has become a member of the school’s National Honor Society. The former appeals to Packard’s love for reading, something she’s taken to her volunteerism by going to the elementary school and reading to those students. The latter appeals to her service nature with the NHS annually involved in a number of projects that give back to the school and community.
 
Though she can’t take on an officer role with the NHS until her senior year, NHS sponsor Sally Spoon already knows what she’ll be getting when Packard can.
 
“She’s one of those leaders who everyone likes even though they’re the ones always put in charge,” Spoon said. “Often times adults pick out people that do well in school or class and hold them up to be the person that does this or is in charge of that and kids can kind of be resentful of them. But that’s not how it is with Abby. She’s the kind of person that everyone follows and listens to and actually likes as a person.
 
“It’s because she’s just a nice, pleasant person. She doesn’t lead with force. She’s more, ‘This is a good idea,’ and then gives reasons for it. She wants to do well and have things happen a certain way and she has the personality to make others want to do that and try and make things better. That’s the kind of leaders we need.”
 
Packard’s coaches agree.
 
“I am lucky enough to have her both in the classroom and on the court,” said Mackenzie Brungardt, Mission Valley’s head girls’ basketball coach and assistant volleyball coach. “In the classroom you could not ask for a more model student than Abby. She is eager to learn, dedicated to doing well and willing to help those around her. One word to describe Abby on the court is passionate. She wears her heart on her sleeve and works so hard to accomplish her goals. She also always pushes her teammates to be the best they can be and celebrates them for their successes. 
 
“If you watch Abby on the volleyball court she gets WAY more excited when her teammates make plays than when she makes one -- and she makes A LOT of big plays. Again, she loves to see her teammates succeed, which I think is super cool. Abby is a natural leader. She leads by example and has a strong, positive character that people are drawn to.”
 

 
“Abby shows leadership by encouraging her teammates during practice and competition and demonstrating good work ethic on the court and in the weight room,” Viking head volleyball coach Tara Durkin said. “Abby is a great example of a well-balanced student-athlete.”
 
“She is very humble and she’s a worker bee,” Bergin said. “Anything you need help with, if you ask her, she’s right there jumping in to do it. She will not want the recognition or take the recognition.”
 
Spoon agreed.
 
“She’s very humble. She’s not the kind of person that sits there and honks her own horn. And that’s why people like me. She’s not a look at me person, she just does the work.”
 
Packard also agreed that she’s not interested in the spotlight whatsoever. Merely, she finds the satisfaction in just doing what she enjoys.
 
“I don’t like everyone to recognize me for the things I do,” she said. “I just like to help make things go well and to make a difference and have a lot of leadership opportunities. Recognition is not a huge thing for me. I just like to be involved and do it, helping and assisting. It just comes naturally to me.”
 
Her path to becoming a teacher also has been a natural one with Packard saying she’s drawn from watching how both of her parents have approached their professions, calling them great role models. And Bergin hopes that path stays close to home.
 
“I hope she comes back and teaches at Mission Valley because she’s fabulous,” Bergin said. “She will be a fabulous teacher. She’ll be fun, she’ll be organized and will not take any nonsense from her kiddos. She will be a great, great teacher. I have no doubt.”