FBLA Tackles New Year with Trips and Activities

FBLA Advisor Lorraine Bowen.

Kyra Vandiver

FBLA Advisor Lorraine Bowen.

With a new school year comes more progress and activities for North Atlanta’s Future Business Leaders of America Club. The club is led by teachers Lorraine Bowen, Marcus Minnifield and Franchesa Thompson.

FBLA’s mandate is to help high school students transition from academic settings into the business world. FBLA-PBL is the largest student-run organization in the United States of America, with 253,365 members, and one of the largest business-related organizations in the world.

This school year’s official kick-off for the club was its Fall Motivational Rally on October 9. The event took place in Perry and gathered more than 5,000 members from FBLA chapters across the state. In November, club members will attend a Leadership Conference in Athens, an event that will include workshops focused on leadership development.

The club is already planning ahead for other events. Events include Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month, a canned food drive in November, and Toys for Tots in December. ”We do want students to be involved. The goal is not just to see them join us, but to participate in what we’re doing,” said Bowen.

Maleni Palacios, a junior, the club’s regional president, sets a great example for activity. In her role, she is required to participate in all regional and community-service events.

Palacios is assisted by other club officer, including Aasia Latigue, TiBerni Hall, Maggie Richardson, Sydne Scales, Jada Jackson, Kyra Vandiver, Tai Lewis, Vincent Latigue, Emily Martin, Amber Perkins and Kennedy Benjamin.

Each student is expected to participate in at least two events during the school year. In past years, FBLA members have raised funds for different events and the goal is to repeat these fund-raising activities. Officers are expected to lead and rank-in-file members are expected to dive in as well. “I expect them to get involved,” Bowen said. “I want to see more students participate in academic and competitive events. The goal is a broad-based participation and this year I think we’re going to get it.”