BLACKSBURG – Last fall, a representative from the Montgomery County Christmas Store had the opportunity to speak to the Future Business Leaders of America at Blacksburg Middle School about the store.
As a result of that talk, the group decided to do their community service project with the Christmas Store and one of the students presented the project at state competition and placed first, qualifying to go to the national competition to compete. Now, the group is hoping the community will donate funds to get the team to the competition.
The Future Business Leaders of America is a student organization that is thriving at Blacksburg Middle School. The mission of FBLA is to inspire and prepare “students to become community-minded business leaders in a global society, through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences” according to the FBLA website.
At the middle school level, the organization introduces students to the world of business by exploring careers and business principles with real-world activities.
The FBLA chapter at Blacksburg Middle School was chartered in 2017 with about 20 students. In 2019, Lorraine Hedgepeth, a Business and Information Technology teacher, became a co-advisor. Under her capable leadership, the group has grown to about 60 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. The entire chapter meets two times a month on every other Thursday after school. Because the group is run by students, officers meet two times a month to plan for meetings. The first meeting of the month is a business meeting and the second meeting is for guest speakers, community service, or other activities.
Every year, the FBLA students choose a project to do for community service. This year, Sadie Zhang, Vice-President, did some research and suggested helping those who are hungry. Food insecurity is a serious issue in our area so there were many opportunities to help with this need.
In their first meeting in September, the chapter decided to work with the Montgomery County Christmas Store. After MCCS spoke to the group, using visual aids to describe the mission of the Christmas Store and to emphasize the need to help low-income families in Montgomery County, they decided to sponsor a school-wide food drive in October at the Middle School. They advertised the project, made signs, and set up collection boxes around the school.
In November, they delivered the food to the Store, unloaded, sorted, inventoried, and stored it to be used in December during Store Week. Because the Food Department gives a basket of food to every eligible shopper along with a Christmas card with a gift certificate for meat, the students also collected and made cards for the 1100+ families who come during Store Week. Students were given a tour of the store so they could see all that is provided to help those in need in our community.
In addition to supporting the MCCS on the hunger issue, the group also made sandwiches for a homeless shelter in Christiansburg and made treats for the Montgomery County Animal Shelter.
The FBLA has an Awards Competition between chapters in individual states. On March 8, 21 FBLA members traveled to Henrico, Virginia to participate in the State Competitive Events. This year, XiXi Liu, a sixth grader, placed first in her performance event, Community Service, at the State Leadership Conference. She created a presentation about the project the chapter did with the Christmas Store. Hedgepeth said that after her presentation, a judge came over and said, “XiXi did an excellent job as well as other members from our BMS chapter.”
XiXi qualified to compete at the National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Orlando, Florida this summer. Along with XiXi, 17 other students placed in the top four places and qualified to attend national competition. Because of conflicts, 11 members are attending the NLC this year.
It costs about $1300 for lodging and registration fees to send each student to competition. So, Hedgepeth created a fundraising dinner event on May 3 at Blacksburg Middle School. She contacted Outback and they agreed to provide food for a reduced rate. With her guidance, students set up a delightful setting in the auditorium. Sadie Zhang, FBLA Vice-President, was a very capable mistress of ceremony and designed the program and menu. Scarlett Collins, FBLA reporter, prepared the photo montage describing the work of FBLA as part of the program. For a $30 donation, guests enjoyed a tasty dinner from Outback. Tickets were purchased by 71 people. The students did all the work serving the meal, providing wonderful music from the stage and running the event.
Hedgepeth took the opportunity at the event to thank all the businesses, volunteers, family, and friends who have helped the chapter this year.
Since it is so expensive to attend the conference, donations are being accepted at the middle school to help families attend the event. You can drop by the office to write a check or mail it to the school with FBLA on the memo line.
Good luck to all of these energetic, talented students as they compete at the national level and represent Blacksburg Middle School.
Terri Lynn Howard, Montgomery County Christmas Store
