Medical Lake FBLA builds momentum, finds identity

For a small club, the Medical Lake High School Future Business Leaders of America has been gaining a lot of momentum over the last year.

The club had six members compete at the Feb. 4 Northeast Regional Winter Conference in Spokane. Of the six who went to regionals, three qualified for the state competition in April: club secretary Anthony Barnes, who was second in business calculations, vice president Noah Ray, who finished second in client services and president Connor Hart, who took fourth in business law.

Together, the three won the global business competition.

Last year, the club took seven members to state.

"For a small chapter like ours to go to state, it was really cool to do that," Ray said.

This year, the club has 13 members, twice as many as last year. Ray said the group spent most of 2015-16 teaching themselves about how to run FBLA chapters and getting a "good idea of what the club was."

"We were looking at the things they were doing well and things we needed to fix," he said.

The club has a new adviser this year, Diane Baye, who came to Medical Lake in October as a long-term substitute with a background in career technical education.

Although Barnes, Hart and Ray have their respective titles, the officers rely on each other, and the rest of the club, to come up with ideas and make decisions.

"The nice part is it's not just a standard leadership," Ray said. "We are all one team and when someone has an idea, they vocalize it."

Ray said the organization has attended every conference they could in order to gain insight about how other schools run their FBLA clubs.

"It's a little intimidating going to events with larger clubs," Ray said. "We view competitions as a learning opportunity. Even though we want to place (individually), we are going to learn what we can to make the club better."

Part of making the group better includes implementing parliamentary procedures for meetings, which Ray hopes to do this year, increasing membership and helping the rest of the school understand what FBLA is.

"It's difficult for people to take the first step," Hart said. "FBLA is more than just about business. It helps you learn about business principles, builds your confidence and leadership skills, and all of that can be applied in life."

"I've used some of the things I've learned from FBLA and applied them into different groups I'm involved with," Ray added. He is the secretary of the ASB junior class, an officer in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and a member of the tennis team.

During last year's state competition, Ray ran for public relations officer. This year he will run for regional vice president, who works with the regional FBLA adviser to plan events such as the Leadership Development Day and the winter region conference.

"He had to speak in front of 2,000 people last year and FBLA helped him build the confidence and leadership to do that," Hart said.

While the three officers have already punched their ticket for state, Baye said club members could qualify for the competition through "straight to state" events where students submit projects for evaluation. One example of a "straight to state" project is an online simulation where students develop a business financial plan.

"We could probably have 3-5 more qualify for state," Baye said.

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].