Submitted by recent Alcorn Central Graduate John Mask. Pictured Left to Right: John Mask, Twila Bridges, Angie Grisham, Taylor Poindexter
My friend, Taylor Poindexter, and I recently had the opportunity to travel over 800 miles west in order to take part in the National Leadership Convention for the Future Business Leaders of America. This year over 13,000 students from all fifty states and seven countries gathered together in San Antonio, Texas for the annual FBLA NLC.
This was a very special event for me because it was my very last ‘hoorah’ with the student organization. I have been a very active member of the Alcorn Central chapter of FBLA for the past four years. I served as Club Reporter my freshmen and sophomore year, as Vice-President my junior year, and recently finished my term as President.
It has truly been a great experience. I am very grateful for the amount of support that my club and my advisers have shown over the course of the last four years. Mrs. Twila Bridges and Mrs. Angie Grisham have worked very diligently to ensure that we have all of our materials, that we are on location in time, and that we have a fun time learning how to produce business related skills.
I competed against the best of the best while in San Antonio. This year, my competitive event was Organizational Leadership. The focus of the event was for the competitor to understand the types of leadership, the importance of efficiency in management, and how to coordinate projects among “leader” and “follower.”
It was a really eye opening experience. I feel that I have gained a lot of valuable information from my studies in that event. My other competitions over my four year span in FBLA included Banking & Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Global Business. Each event has provided me with a new found wealth of useful information.
Although FBLA got us to San Antonio, FBLA was not the only thing we did while in the Alamo city. We visited the river-walk, enjoyed the Tower of the Americas, toured the Alamo, and made our way into the largest showcase cavern in the state of Texas. I can’t forget to mention the two stops we made at the giant convenient stores known as Buc-ee’s. Of course, we couldn’t be in Texas and not try some real deal Tex-Mex and some smokey BBQ brisket. My mouth is watering just thinking about all those delicious meals.
I have been fortunate to take part in such a wonderful organization. It has blessed me beyond belief. I have so many memories of FBLA trips all across the country, many of which I will never forget. Clubs and organizations are a great way to meet new friends, make connections, and grow in character. I am glad that I signed up for this one some four years ago!
