By Lily Stetson
Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is the largest and most popular club on Redwood High School’s campus. Founded in 1959 and with around 150 members each year, advisor Jacob Avila and president Maddie Adams, ‘21, are determined to carry on FBLA’s success despite Covid-19 restrictions.
FBLA’s success has been consistent throughout the past few years. Despite the State Conference being canceled in 2020, they placed fifth in 2018 and ninth in 2019, competing against over 150 chapters at those particular conferences.
During a normal school year, FBLA would see about 200 students show up to the first few meetings. Any students who continue with the club, normally attend multiple conferences such as LDI, Section, State, and Nationals. There are usually study sessions and practices in order to prepare students for competitions.
However, the current situation of the worldwide pandemic has shifted meetings and competitions to online events. Zoom meetings are the best way to get in contact with members. Avila says, “We love being in person, connecting with our large group of members. We will adjust and do our best to keep that connection going.” Breakout rooms and meetings through Zoom are going to be the club’s way of making all help and resources accessible.
Both leaders agree that interest and involvement will be one of the largest challenges they will face. “There will still be conferences and competitions to allow our members to get back some of their sense of FBLA normalcy, it’ll just be online this year,” Avila says. They are hoping for a solid group of interested members to keep FBLA going.
As president and member, Adams is determined for a successful year. “My individual goal this year is to effectively lead this FBLA chapter to a unique season.” Adams also hopes she will compete in the Public Speaking event.
FBLA prepares during the first semester of school for the section competition in February, and then the state competition in April. As of now, competitions are going to be held virtually. One disadvantage is that the leaders of the club do not have a lot of information on how competitions will go, making it difficult to prepare club members for the future.
Despite the challenges, they are determined to make this year as normal and easy as possible. Avila and Adams are planning on offering every tool members will need no matter the difficulties. “This will be hard this year, but our awesome officer team has some plans to help our members feel welcome and ready for the year,” Avila says.
Adams is planning on providing members some resources online for studying and giving multiple ways to access advisors and the officer team for feedback and answers. She thanks the advisors who are doing, “everything they can to make sure students are equipped with the tools they need.”
FBLA has a legacy to live up to and Adams feels honored and privileged to be a part of it. She says, “It has taken hard work, dedication, and willingness from hundreds of students to build this organization and to be successful.” No matter what challenges online meetings and conferences may cause, both advisors and the president are prepared to be as successful as they have been in the past.
Tags: clubs, clubs & lifestyles, competition, fbla, redwood fbla, zoom