50 Years as an FBLA Chapter - Hackberry High School, home of Lindsay LaBove, State Vice President, has been hard at work this year.  They have learned how to make business fun!  This is Hackberry's 50th anniversary as an active FBLA chapter!  In celebration of this, they are having various activities every month throughout the year to celebrate.  Their action packed, fun activities include Blue and Gold Day, FBLA Treasure Hunt, a Mardi Gras parade, Valentine's Day Data Match, Christmas Present a Day, and of course, FBLA week.

Hackberry FBLA officers have been hard at work preparing the activities for the entire school.  Also this year, Hackberry will again be hosting the District IV Conference at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.  Hackberry's members are already hard at work preparing for the conference and studying for their contests.  Many members hope to place at district and even state!

Simpson Strikes Gold

Simpson High School's FBLA chapter officers recently attended an Edward Jones Investment Seminar about the mutual fund group, American Funds.  The seminar was held on Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at Angel's Choice in Leesville.  The seminar covered a number of interesting topics, including coping with the recent market decline!  Mr. Joey Bollinger, Edward Jones Investment Representative, headed the seminar with guest speaker, Mr. Andy Agar, Vice President of American Funds, Edward Jones Investment Corporation.

Click the thumbnail for a larger version of Simpson's picture!

Homer High School's Winning Attitude

     Coach Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."  When he was criticized for that statement, he added, "The objective is to win fairly and squarely, to play by the rules, but to win.  You don't win once in a while.  You don't win occasionally.  You don't win by accident.  Winning is a habit, just like losing."  Which do you think is better?

     What Coach Lombardi was saying to his football teams defines what Homer High FBLA is constantly saying to its members.  Future Business Leaders of America helps to prepare each of the members for the world after high school.  By providing the many various activities for its members, Homer FBLA is striving to give its members the positive expectations that it takes to develop a winning attitude.

     And, yes, we are off to a terrific start for the 2002-2003 school year.  Some of the activities that we have planned or completed so far include the following:
    

•      Presenting each officer with an officer name badge to wear at all FBLA functions
• Provide refreshments for the Homer Pelicans football team during the season
• Participating in the Homer High Medical Academy drive to raise funds for St. Jude and entering a team in the trivia contest
• Attending the State Fall Leadership Conference in Ville Platte
• Decorating the school for "Drug-Free Red Ribbon Week"
• Preparing an FBLA float for the annual Homecoming Parade
• Visiting a local nursing home, The Presbyterian Village, to talk and visit with the residents
• Taking a field trip to Libby Glass Works in Shreveport
• Taking several members to the National Fall Leadership Conference in Jacksonville, Florida
• Preparing an American Enterprise Day project for the Homer High School student body
• Working with the Homer High basketball coaches to supply food for the coaches room during the Homer High Christmas tournament
• Planning and participating in our Christmas bowling event

     By participating in all these events, Homer High School FBLA members are developing a winning attitude that will take each of them to their lives following high school!

Westlake Lends a Helping Hand

Westlake High School FBLA members volunteered their time to serve food at Abraham's Tent one afternoon, on their own time.  These students will work hard to win at district so they can advance to state competition.  Through lending a hand, these FBLA members have developed a charitable outlook on their lives.

Harrisonburg Begins Fund Raising

Harrisonburg High School FBLA recently began raising money for the March of Dimes through a penny war.  After six weeks, Harrisonburg High School, population 110 raised over $600!.  Harrisonburg boasts Ethan Boothe, who won 7th at nationals in Introduction to Business Communication, and Kyle Alagood, the state reporter.

Atlanta Follows up a Successful Year with Another Successful Year    

Atlanta High School was well represented at the FBLA National Leadership Conference with a total of six students involved in competitive events.  Attending the conference were:  Mrs. Janice Stroud, Adviser, Laura Horne, Sarah Keyes, Stephanie Williams-competing in Business Plan and placing 5th in the nation!!, Travis Tyler-Business Calculations, Karie Dick-Introduction to Business and Ryan Hoffpauir-Business Procedures.
     Now that the summer is over and school is in progress, we are ready to get down to business.  Our FBLA officers for 2002-2003 have been selected and are as follows:  President-Laura Horne, Secretary-Melinda Taylor, Treasurer-Ryan Hoffpauir, Reporter-Seth Taylor, Parliamentarian-Sarah Keyes, Historians-Leah Horne and Karie Dick, and Chaplains-Hannah Collins and Lajuan Brown.  Project chairmen and committees have been selected and everyone is busy planning and preparing activities.  Our Community Service Project this year will be a newspaper recycling project.  Since our school has Pre-K through 12th grades, we are getting everyone involved in our project and prizes will be awarded November 15th-America Recycles Day, to the students who have brought the most newspapers.  Every week we send out recycling facts to all our student body to educate everyone about the importance of recycling.
     Our Partnership with Business Project will be an in-depth job shadowing project.  On November 4, club members will visit local businesses in Winnfield to learn about a career they are interested in pursuing.  The American Enterprise committee visited all the classrooms and taught a topic that related to our American enterprise system.  Some of the topics taught were:  citizenship, credit, savings/investments, career planning, banking, technology, and many more.
      Fourteen of our members attended the LA Fall Leadership Conference.  We are very proud to announce that Laura Horne won 1st place in the Battle of the Chapters event.
      Our club is pumped up about the upcoming year and we are hoping to have an exciting year full of fun and exciting activities.

     As our new year in FBLA begins, I would like to remind all the advisors and senior members out there that you are the examples.  In everything that you do this year, others are gazing upon you, learning how they should act.  You can tell them how to act, but unless you demonstrate those proper actions, no good has been done.  The chapter officers should be prime examples of how to act and present themselves.  You advisors should lay out the rules and codes of conduct to your members.  You should explain to them how to properly dress and act at FBLA functions.  As advisors, you should emphasize high morale and high standards of ethics.  If you all work with your state officer team to enforce all FBLA's rules, our next year in this organization can be the greatest yet!

Pearl River Announces Their 02-03 Officers

Castor Hosts FBLA Week

The Castor High School FBLA club hosted FBLA week during the week of November 18-22, 2002. Each day was filled with a new activity. Monday was dress as your career day. Tuesday was teacher appreciation day and we honored our teachers by placing homemade refreshments in the teachers lounge. On Wednesday, we sponsored a Career Fair for the students at our school in grades 6-12. We had a total of 17 guests, each representing a different career with displays and information about their particular career. Thursday was blue and gold day. Our state President, Rebecca Matthews joined our club on Friday at our club meeting and gave an interesting talk about opportunities in FBLA. This was also our official FBLA dress day. Each member who participated received points for their participation.

Natchitoches Woos Community with Boo Bags

The Natchitoches Central High School chapter of FBLA has been busy with adventures, jobs, and community service projects. Among these are two very important trips to area nursing homes. The members wanted to give a special treat to the elderly people of our town, so we collected as much candy as possible. After that, we put the candy into bags and made final preparations to delvier the candy the week of Halloween. We called our cute little gifts Boo Bags. Then, our group took the bags to four nursing homes and personally delivered the bags. This was such a hit with our FBLA and the nursing homes that we decided to visti again. Before Christmas, our club gathered candy and prepared bags again. Our second trip to the noursing home was delightful and enjoyed by both students and senior citizens. Because of the great enjoyment, we are planning another exciting trip.

Sacred Heart Hosts the Fall Leadership Conference

Members and advisers truly “Soared to New Heights” in October at the Louisiana FBLA State Fall Leadership Conference hosted by Sacred Heart High School FBLA in Ville Platte, Louisiana. Members from Louisiana traveled hundreds of miles by bus and automobile for the fall conference held on October 19, 2002. Their goals were to meet new people, gain enthusiasm, share knowledge, and learn about business! Helping us to accomplish these goals were the FBLA State Officers, advisers, and the dynamic members of FBLA. Topics of the workshops, each conducted by a state officer, ranged from learning how to excel in a job interview, testing your FBLA knowledge, and making your first million. Atlanta High School FBLA was the winner of the Battle of the Chapters, a competition conducted on stage where members must answer oral questions related to FBLA. FBLA Members will be traveling to their respective district conferences during the month of February to compete and move on to the Louisiana FBLA State Leadership Conference on March 30 – April 1, 2003.

District Conference Results

District I

District II

District III

District IV

District V

District VI

District VII

     Crowville FBLA began the year with a recruitment campaign that resulted in a total of 65 members joining our chapter. FBLA sold spirit chain links during Homecoming Week. This venture raised over $300 the March of Dimes. FBLA held a school-wide food drive for the TRIAD organization of Franklin Parish. Eighteen hundred cans of nonperishable food items were collected for distribution to senior citizens in Franklin Parish. Members also designed Christmas cards that were included with each care package given to senior citizens. During December, FBLA officers were invited to meetings of the Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. This gave our chapter the opportunity to education the business community about the benefits of FBLA. Fifty two members traveled to the University of Louisiana in Monroe where they competed at the District II Leadership Conference. Our very own Joel Casiday, District II Vice President, hosted the conference. Chapter members pitched in to help make the conference a success. Our hard work and study paid off as CHS FBLA brought home five first place awards: FBLA Principles and Procedures- Hope Stevens; Current Events- Dena Boone, Joe Brown, and Nancy Mays; Ms. FBL – Dena Boone; Desktop Publishing- Katie Carson and Joanna Walker, and Impromptu Speaking – Jaime Hill. Placing superior and eligible for state competition were Courtney Armstrong – Job Interview, Amanda Lashley – Word Processing II, Mary Hodges – Economics, Jana Bland – FBLA Principles and Procedures, Keisha Jones – Accounting I, Jessica Greer – Banking and Financial Systems, Nancy Mays – Business Communications, Lee Wallace, Dustin Wright, and Jonathan Wright – Emerging Business Issues, Shelley Pylant – Introduction to Business, Jared Casiday – Introduction to Business Communication, Gina Comeaux – Marketing, Virginia Houston – Word Processing I, and Justin Huff – Word Processing I. Members are looking forward to competing at the state conference in Baton Rouge in March. !

Up, Up, and Away with Loranger FBLA

Loranger High School FBLA has had a very rewarding and busy fall semester. Fifty five members and six professional members were recruited. The chapter immediately planned a volleyball game for funds to donate to the March of Dimes, Scholarship fund, Operation's Fund, and service projects. Our members contributed enough non perishable and food items to prepare five Thanksgiving baskets given to local families. A new project called Operation Shoebox was developed. The elementary principal was asked to give the names of students from each grade who could use a little extra cheer at Christmas. Twenty seven shoeboxes were decorated, filled with goodies, and presented to the sutdents the week before Christmas. Also a nearby neighbor who has a brain tumor was presented with four videos. A gathering of members joined another club and went Christmas caroling to two nursing homes in an adjoining city. The next undertaking was the Christmas King/Queen fundraiser for the state conference and the annual awards banquet. As if this were not enough to keep the chapter busy, each member was diligently preparing for the District VI Conference. Hope to see you all in Baton Rouge!