Mariah Fish had reason to be thrilled when she found out the results of her FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) Reading Challenge.

The three-month event, which included students from kindergarten through sixth grade in Montgomery County, drew 123 participants and had 50 finishers. All participants were challenged to read at least 2,000 minutes.

“We had a lot of reading happening,” said Fish, who is a sophomore at Montgomery County High School. “We had 183,000 minutes read. That’s pretty impressive. It got kids reading and there was not a whole lot more than I can ask for.”

Fish ran the reading challenge for the second year in a row. This year, the event allowed participants to win prizes by logging in their work in the Reader Zone app, which was paid for by the MCHS FCCLA chapter.

The sponsors for the reading challenge were Gumdrop Books, Snappy Graphics, the Kiwanis Club of Montgomery City, Jim Krattli, the Jonesburg Optimist Club, the Montgomery City Rotary, Rugged Root Coffee Shop and the Montgomery City Alliance Club.

“They were such huge contributors,” Fish said.

The reading challenge began on Jan. 9 even though schools were closed due to the inclement weather that hit the Montgomery County area. Fish said this year’s reading challenge was tracked through parents.

“Last year, my reading challenge was tracked through teachers,” Fish said. “When I had an interview with Mrs. Krattli, she told me teachers have a lot on their plate, which is 100 percent true. Between just being there emotionally for the kids, especially in the elementary age to grading paperwork and making sure that everyone is understanding. They do have a lot on their plate. So we want to go through parents because family is a huge part of the FCCLA. I think it’s important to not only connect parents to reading and connect them to reading encouragement.”

Fish said parents were determined to record all of the minutes as the reading challenge approached the final day.

“It was successful,” the sophomore said. “We had quite a few finishers, especially towards the end. They kept coming in. What’s really exciting is when I get to go through and get their prize and make sure it gets to them. You know that kid was very excited about what they’re getting.”

The project helped Fish qualify for the FCCLA National Conference for the second year in a row. She is one of nine students in the R-II School District who qualified for nationals. Last year, Fish received a national gold award and earned a fifth-place finish at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference in Seattle, Wash., for her reading challenge. This year’s national competition will be in Orlando, Fla.

“I’m super excited,” Fish said. “It’s such an incredible and fun experience. It introduces you to a lot more stuff than just state (competition) does. Different states do things differently, even though they follow the rule book and stuff. It’s interesting to see what new things other leaders are doing with their communities.”

Fish finished second in FCCLA state competition, which was held March 16-18 at the Lake of the Ozarks.

“I’m pretty happy,” said Fish, who lives in New Florence. “I advanced to nationals and that’s all I could ask for. I’d rather get second than first because I’m hoping that means I’m getting more critiques of things that I can fix because it’s all about being better.”