There are four different levels of the Business Achievement Awards: Future, Business, Leader and America. Each level requires several activities to be completed with your local chapter, and as you progress from one level to the next, the activities become more challenging, focusing more on the state and national chapters.

These awards can be earned with a little dedication and time. For instance the Future Level could be completed in 1-2 chapter meetings. To see what tasks are available for completion on all levels, visit www.fbla-pbl.org. These awards will also be a great addition to job and college resumes. Admissions offices and employers are always looking for dedicated and well rounded people, this is one way to show them that.

As well as individual satisfaction and gratification, the Business Achievement Awards offer your chapter recognition at state conferences.  If your chapter is thinking about attaining Chapter of the Year recognition, the BAA is one way to earn points. To see how the points will be awarded this year, look at page 20-21 of this year’s Georgia FBLA Chapter Planning Guide.

January BAA Update

 

Many of us have been advancing all across the state, in the Business Achievement Awards.  With less than 3 months left to participate in the BAAs, time is ticking away quickly. Georgia FBLA has always been one of the top producers in the Nation of BAA awards. This is due to the fact that our members are dedicated, hard working, and committed. We want every single one of our members to set a goal of one maybe even two levels to complete by March 1^st.

 

Those of you participating and working on the America level know that it is well worth your time. With a chance to appear on stage at the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee this year, your efforts are much appreciated. Not only are you making an impression of yourself but of your school and your state.

 

The Business Achievement Awards are not just awards that are recognized inside FBLA. These awards have been seen by employers and college admissions offices. They give you and every member inside FBLA a way to stand out among the crowd. When they see that you have earned all four levels, whether it is applying for a job or college, they will already have a sense of the effort you are going to put in.

 

Remember that first impressions can only made once, with the Business Achievement Awards you are giving yourself the edge and ability to set yourself apart from everything else.

 

If you would like more information in completing an award, talk to your adviser. Or, if you are already working towards the next level, keep up the fantastic work!

Back to School with BAAs 

As we get back to school, Business Achievement Awards (BAA) will be starting up. FBLA has created the BAA to allow us, the members, to show our leadership and dedication in completing self-assigned tasks. Last year 2,027 members from Georgia participated in this program. Our goal this year is to have 2,500 members participate in BAA. With just over 24,000 members in Georgia, we have the resources and the ability to reach this goal.

What is MAP? 

The Middle Level Achievement Program is designed to help middle level members gain recognition by completing various activities.  There are three levels in the program: entrepreneur, business, and enterprise.  Certain activities may be done to complete the levels.  The tasks for each level can be found in the Middle Level Chapter Management Handbook, or just ask your adviser to get you a copy of the requirements.  I encourage all middle level members to become involved and complete one or more levels.  These awards can help members become more involved with their local chapter. It can also teach you new leadership traits. The MAP awards are just the start to getting involved with FBLA!

MAP Activity of the Month

The Middle Level Achievement Program is designed to help middle level members gain recognition by completing various activities.  There are three levels in the program: entrepreneur, business, and enterprise.  Certain activities may be done to complete the levels.  The tasks for each level can be found in the Middle Level Chapter Management Handbook, or just ask your adviser to get you a copy of the requirements.  I encourage all middle level members to become involved and complete one or more levels.  This month, you can easily do one activity. Obtain two business cards from local business people. As you meet new community leaders and business professionals, ask them for their card! Make copies of the cards and add them to your MAP documentation.  It will go toward the education section of the business level.  Good Luck!

 

Main Street FBLA is Georgia FBLA’s official state project for 2009-2010. Main Street FBLA is focused on helping small and local businesses in providing services and promotion that they might otherwise have to pay for. This project also gives us an opportunity to learn the importance that small businesses play in our local communities

Every day we get flyers in the mail, or see posters in a store window and say to ourselves – “I have worked on something very similar to that at school.”  Whether it is a simple letter from a Computer Application’s class or a marketing brochure from Marketing class, the skills we learn through CTAE classes are the same skills businesses use every day.  Our goal is to approach local small businesses, as a chapter, and offer our assistance in the creation of promotional items, or with a service, promotion, or initiative they need.

 

In the past we have focused on creating the skills we need to be successful, but we never got the time to use those skills. Main Street FBLA is here to change that. Georgia FBLA wants to show the businesses that sponsor us, and even the ones that don’t, what we have learned and how we are using our knowledge.

 

Through Main Street FBLA, Georgia FBLA wants to increase the awareness and presence of our organization statewide. Positive action leads to positive growth. By raising awareness of our organization through Main Street FBLA we may be able to recruit new Professional Division members.  Main Street FBLA gives you and your chapter a chance to mingle and network with the people and businesses in your community. After all, we are Future Business Leaders of America, and there is no better way to learn and prepare for the future than by experience. Talk to your local adviser and officers and start to plan how you are going to participate.  

 

Georgia FBLA has been dedicated in providing service for our communities for a long time. This year that tradition is continuing!  We want to keep our communities aware of what we do here inside FBLA. We are not just all about accounting, business, and presentations. When we offer our hand in helping churches, schools, and our community, people notice us. They see our shirts, they see our signs and they see our help.

By Giving Back One Hour At A Time,  we not only offer service for our community, but we also offer a chance to be recognized. When someone sees us picking up litter on the side of the road, or spreading pine straw for a church, they see us and they see our name. Making our name a common one in the community gives a better edge when it comes time to recruit new members or raise funds for a project.

 

Staying involved in community service projects will allow FBLA, from the locally to national levels , to shine even more. Instead of FBLA just being 4 letters to someone, they will see it in action.

 

Giving Back One Hour At A Time also offers a chance for local chapters to be recognized. The chapters donating the most hours of time and the most money for non-school community service projects will be spotlighted at the 2010 State Leadership Conference.

 

If your chapter participates in this project you can earn Chapter of the Year points in section 17. Your chapter could earn up to 25 points towards their next award.

 

So talk to your chapter officers, pick out several projects for this year and make them happen!

 

Fundraising Activities

Welcome to 2010 Georgia FBLA! Georgia FBLA’s partnership with the March of Dimes has been a strong one from the very beginning and 2009 proved to be no exception. With the New Year just beginning let’s keep the partnership going strong! How can we continue to keep our partnership strong? Fundraising and educating. Fundraising and educating can be done in many different ways. You can turn any fundraising activity into an educational and life changing event.

 

Examples of fundraisers that chapters are using today are:

·          Bake Sales

·          Coin Wars

·          Races

·          Dances

·          Car Washes

·          Pageants

·          Selling School Spirit Items

·          Partnering with local businesses

·          Simply donating through the March of Dimes Website: http://www.marchofdimes.com/

 These are just a few of the ways you can raise money and educate your community about the March of Dimes and save babies! If you have any fundraising ideas or would like to share your March of Dimes story you can email them to Bekah at northeastvp@georgiafbla.org. We encourage you to share your ideas with other chapters so every chapter has the opportunity to come together and save babies.  Georgia FBLA also likes to recognize its members for their dedication and service to our partnership with the March of Dimes at the State Leadership Conference. So keep up the great work and let’s keep saving babies with the March of Dimes!

 

 

Lenzia Lee Nunn 

 

March of Dimes is the leading organization in the care of premature babies. The dedicative research, volunteer work, and education of the March of Dimes will save thousands of babies this year alone. Whenever the March of Dimes is mentioned, there is one baby in particular that always comes to my mind. Her name is Lenzia Lee Nunn.  Lenzia was born 8 weeks early at 34 weeks old. Lenzia stayed at the hospital for about 3 weeks after she was born. She was born with an air pocket between her sternum and lungs, diagnosed with jaundice and sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is when a person fails to breathe several times while they sleep. Jaundice is yellowish discoloration of the skin due to an excess of ^*bilirubin. She had to be put on a breathing machine for 2 weeks, a feeding tube, and an incubator was used to help with the jaundice.  The air pocket healed and went away over time. As Lenzia got better she still had to have a heart monitor with her for 6 months. When she was brought home from the hospital she weighed only 4 pounds and 3 ounces.  Lenzia pulled through with the help of her doctors and with the unconditional love and support from her family. Lenzia Lee Nunn is my little cousin. At the time I didn’t realize just how important the March of Dimes is to families affected by premature births. The technology used to monitor Lenzia and keep her alive would not have been possible without the research and efforts of the March of Dimes. Lenzia Lee Nunn is now 5 years old and is as full of spirit and energy as any kid her age should be.

 

If you have a March of Dimes story you would like to share, read about other babies, or learn how you can help please visit: http://www.marchofdimes.com/home.asp

* Bilirubin - found in hemoglobin also causes the yellow color in bruises

 

Unleashing the Partnership with March of Dimes!

 

Did you know that half million babies are born premature every year? March of Dimes works daily to lower that number. You have probably heard of March of Dimes before but do you really know what it’s all about? How can we as members of Future Business Leaders of America take part in this?

 

March of Dimes is the leading organization that promotes the awareness and prevention of premature births, birth defects, and infant mortality. They accomplish this through “programs of research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies’ lives. Volunteers, educators, researchers and others work together to give all babies a fighting chance at healthy lives. March of Dimes also offers parent education to all mothers to help them better understand what to do to increase chances of having a healthy baby. Mothers can get one-on-one confidential and trustworthy answers to all of their questions about their pregnancy and other related topics.

 

In the years that we of FBLA have been partnered with the March of Dimes, we have raised over $15 million for the organization. Many of our members have been personally affected by the efforts of the March of Dimes. Some members were born premature or were born with birth defects or know of families affected by one or both of these conditions.  FBLA members are helping to raise money and awareness through many different fundraising techniques. At our conferences we hold Monopoly Tournaments and numerous chances to play Bingo for Babies to help in this effort. Another huge fundraising activity FBLA utilizes is the Coin Wars.

 

Coin Wars are simple but highly effective fundraiser for March of Dimes. Local chapters can visit www.marchofdimes.com/youth to get materials for their Coin Wars or make their own.  Georgia FBLA holds a Coin War at the Fall Motivational Rally. The war is between the classes. Earn points for your class and deduct points from the other classes. So freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors be ready with your coins on October 15^th in Perry, Georgia!

 

To learn how you can help too, please visit the March of Dimes website: www.marchofdimes.com

 

 

 

The March of Dimes...Helping Tomorrow's Future Business Leader

 

This year Georgia FBLA is continuing our support for the March of Dimes. We are continuing to raise awareness, participation, and money for the fight against premature births. Last year, Georgia FBLA single-handedly raised over $45,000 to benefit the March of Dimes. This all started at the local level. We need every member’s hand in helping us reach that goal again.

 

In 2009, Georgia FBLA was nationally recognized at the NLC in Anaheim, California for the devotion in participation and fundraising for the March of Dimes. Not only have we raised a huge amount for March of Dimes, but we also have increased the awareness in our members and other teenagers about ways to minimize the risk of premature births.

 

If you have the least little bit of knowledge about FBLA, you will know that we provide the highest support of any student organization in the country. Our objective is to increase this support to allow the prevention of premature babies and essentially premature deaths.

 

Last year we had chapters all over the state incorporate the March of Dimes into their local chapter program of work, whether it be selling March of Dimes pumpkins to their school for fundraising or having an educational seminar on the mission of March of Dimes to prevent premature births.

 

If your chapter participates in this project you can earn Chapter of the Year points in section 20 of your Georgia FBLA Chapter Planning Guide. Your chapter could earn 25 points towards their next award.  Helping Tomorrow's Future Business Leaders in 2009-2010 is another project to get our members and our community involved and offering resources for a better cause.  For more information on the March of Dimes, please visit www.marchofdimes.com/youth or contact your state or region officers.

 

 

 

 

 

Preparing For FBLA Week

Well, Georgia FBLA, it is getting to be that time of the year again where deadlines are coming.  One such event is FBLA week in February. There are many different ways to go about preparing for FBLA Week, but a good way to start is to set up a chapter officer meeting to get student input on what you should do on all of the different days.

 

A great way to kick things off is to plan a theme to use. There are many possibilities to this, you could even somehow incorporate the State’s theme of Leadership Unleashed, or the National theme, Simply the Best.  Even if you do not pick a theme, you can have different events to do on each of the days. Since FBLA week usually falls during the week of Valentines’ Day, you could have a “Sweethearts Day” where you get members to vote on a male or female to be Mr. & Ms. FBLA. Another idea would be to have a Teacher Appreciation Day to give members the opportunity to show teachers just how much their work is appreciated.  Invite business partners as guest speakers on Professional Dress Day or host a special cookout on Member Appreciation Day to round out the week. 

 

Remember that FBLA Week is a great way to involve all your members and let others in your school and community experience what FBLA is all about.  Don’t forget to write up each day on a Project Activity Report and use them for Chapter of the Year points!

 

FBLA in the Classroom

 

FBLA Week is coming up, and it is always a good idea to get students involved with planning and preparing for it. One way is to assign students to make a brochure to promote FBLA Week. With this idea you could tell them to use their creativity to help get the word out about FBLA.

 

If you can’t come up with any activities that students would enjoy during FBLA Week, assign your students the project of coming up with  planning a week during February to help get the word out about the organization. Activities must be appropriate for school, and should get students who are not in FBLA interested in joining.  Your students might come up with creative ideas that you would not have otherwise considered.

 

The Peach Project

The PEACH Project is Georgia FBLA’s way of helping members preview and prepare for their future. This project shows members how the decisions we made today affect our future for tomorrow. Georgia FBLA believes that small things like recycling a coke bottle and picking up that nickel on the ground will help to better our members’ future.

The PEACH Project shows members how saving that nickel will eventually turn into a dime and so on. By saving and not spending today, you only multiply your success for tomorrow. The Peach Project is also implementing the concept of “Going Green.” Think twice when you pass by that can when there is a trash dispenser located right next to it.

Help get your chapter involved by creating a school wide recycling program or an educational, after school seminar, on student money management. Georgia FBLA believes that a better today makes for an even better tomorrow.

Your school can inform everyone from elementary students to the elderly about the importance of recycling, political affairs, health benefits, and recycling. When you teach a member or even a non-member these skills you are protecting the person from future life damaging decisions.

PEACH is an acronym for Policy, Environmental, Action, Credit, and Health. These are all components that make this project original. Information is a strong resource. With our members passing on the valuable resource, we create a bond and relationship between those being taught and Georgia FBLA. Providing and caring for your community is a main goal for this year’s PEACH Project and by participating, you can do just that!

Earn points for your Chapter of the Year award by participating. Check it out on page 21 in your Chapter Planning Guide, on page 21.

 

Life is a Highway

Where do you see yourself after high school? Are you attending college? Are you going straight into the work force? Or can you even answer this question? For some of us, knowing where we are going to be in 10 to 20 years is a very scary thing to think about. Things like having a family, getting married, financial planning, a career, and secondary education are all things that we have to take into account when planning our future.

Georgia FBLA is helping its members get a better understanding of where they see themselves in 20 years. Participating in this state project will give any member the knowledge they need to make more informed choices in regards to career choices, financial planning, investment approaches, and credit education. Life is a highway. No matter how experienced you are or how much you know, you will have an accident. Georgia FBLA is here to make that accident a minor fender bender instead of a 10 car pileup. Your future as a person is a very delegate thing, because it is occurring every second. The decisions we make today, effect who we will be tomorrow.

If we are able to make more informed decisions about some of the adversity we will face in our life, then we have a major advantage on the results from our actions. Get involved today, and incorporate Georgia FBLA’s Life is a Highway project into your next meeting.

 

Venture IN

This state project encourages chapters across the state to practice and use basic entrepreneurship skills. Future Business Leaders of America is the largest student business organization in the world. We have the resources to make our members future the brightest it can be. The best way to start preparing for the life after high school is to start practicing the skills that are being taught at conferences, seminars, and breakout sessions.

Your interest in business is strong; Georgia FBLA wants to keep that up. We are here to help guide you through the ins and outs of business ownership, money management, and general entrepreneurial practices.

The Venture IN project is here to show you what is involved in making your future business successful. Activities from making a business plan, holding invention fairs, and having guest speakers at meetings make this project a great way to learn about the real life world of business. For more information contact your adviser or area state officer.

 

Savvy Surfing

You cannot go through the day and not see some type of computer oriented device. Many of us use these computers or cell phones to access our email, social networking sites, information, or sometimes just the web. Many people, including FBLA members, are under the impression that they are browsing safely at all times. Well, unless you are monitoring your internet usage that might not be the case.

The Savvy Surfing project is here to inform members about the benefits of utilizing programs like antivirus software, firewall systems, and cookie filters. When we browse the internet today we practically leave our virtual dust on every site we visit. By becoming more informed in ways we can protect ourselves, the potential of harm coming from the internet decreases exponentially.

Not only is Georgia FBLA about protecting out members, but we want to protect our communities. Invite guests to meetings to help those that might not know what internet security is. Make them aware of the violent potential it has. Contact your adviser today! Schedule an internet security presentation or have a field specialist come and speak.

Georgia Youth Saves

Georgia FBLA is making yet another push at keeping our members informed and focused on the importance of protecting our money. In today’s society, your financials can make or break your chances at success. Some employers have even said they pull an applicant’s credit report to see how they manage their money. “It gives us a better understanding of who we are hiring. Your money management skills are a clear representation of how you will present yourself and represent our company.”

Georgia Youth Saves is a campaign to keep members informed on the damaging effects careless financial mistakes can have on your credit profile. With some of us turning 18, we are able to open loans, credit cards, and checking accounts. If we are not careful, fees, damaging reports, interest rates, non-payment penalties, and other financial burdens can quickly add up to a devastating financial crisis.

Protect yourself by becoming involved in this state project. Arm yourself with the best weapon possible, knowledge. By exploring the concepts of saving and protecting your money you will become more informed about money management. Invite all your community members, as Georgia FBLA wants to make as many people as possible aware of the positives of saving and investing your money. Contact your adviser today and incorporate this project into your next meeting.