Dec 2020 Oxford Academy FBLA Newsletter| Volume 1 |Issue 1

W H A T I S F B L A ?

Service, Education, and Progress.

FBLA is a national organization dedicated to teaching students about the skills and traits needed for the business world through hands-on projects, lectures, and competition. Our mission is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs.

Goals

Develop competent, aggressive business leadership Strengthen confidence of students in themselves and their work Create interest in and understanding of American business enterprise Encourage the development of individual projects to improve homes, business, and community Facilitate the transition from school to work Assist students in the establishment of career goals Encourage scholarship and promote school loyalty Encourage and practice sound financial management Develop character, prepare for useful citizenship, and foster patriotism

P R E S I D E N T S ' C O R N E R

C I N D Y T R A N & R A J P A R E K H

For all of my FBLA Family: I hope this new year brings new successes and triumphs, especially when it comes to FBLA :) Sweepstakes, here we come! But I don’t forget to study hard by using our resource catalog, attending our study sessions, and asking veteran FBLA members for any help! Good luck studying, you got this!!!

Hello everyone! My name is Cindy Tran, and I serve as your Oxford Academy FBLA Co- President. I’m extremely glad to have worked with such a dedicated and hardworking officer team this year. We were able to accomplish so much, from our new Adopt-a- Chapter collaboration with Magnolia High School to our extensive community involvement inside and outside Oxford Academy, despite the challenges of COVID- 19. While working out these projects is not always easy, seeing once bare and scrappy ideas refined into events that hold value and memories for our members makes my FBLA experience worth it. I am so excited to what our chapter will accomplish this year!

E D I T O R S ' N O T E S

S e a s o n s g r e e t i n g e v e r y o n e !

B y t h e t i m e t h i s n e w s l e t t e r c o m e s o u t , f i n a l s s h o u l d b e o v e r a n d w e c a n f i n a l l y k i c k b a c k a n d e n j o y t h e b r e a k ! I a m r e a l l y p r o u d t o p r e s e n t o u r v e r y o w n f i r s t F B L A n e w s l e t t e r , a n d I c a n ' t w a i t u n t i l e v e r y o n e e l s e s e e s t h i s !

I a m r e a l l y h o n o r e d t o s e r v e a s y o u r p u b l i c i s t , a n d I f e e l a s t h o u g h b e i n g i n F B L A h a s g r o w n m e a s a p e r s o n , a s I w a s a b l e t o m e e t s o m a n y p e o p l e a n d l e a r n s o m u c h a b o u t t h i s o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d m y s e l f . E v e n t h o u g h t h i s m a y b e o u r f i r s t n e w s l e t t e r , I s u r e k n o w i t i s n ' t o u r l a s t !

B u t I c a n ' t b e l i e v e a s e m e s t e r o f o n l i n e s c h o o l h a s f i n a l l y p a s s e d , A n d e v e n t h r o u g h t h e s e h a r d t i m e s , w e a l l s t u c k t h r o u g h a n d c o n t i n u e d o u r n o r m a l l i v e s ! G o o d l u c k w i t h s e c o n d s e m e s t e r , e v e r y o n e ! A n d k e e p u p t h e a m a z i n g w o r k p a t r i o t s !

S t a y s a f e a n d w e l l , H a n n a h W o o

G O I N G O N L I N E

With COVID-19 still running rampant and closing down schools, we had to change our ways of planning for events and adapt to making everything virtual. Our FBLA board never expected such a weird and unanticipated beginning because we have never experienced anything like this. However, despite the many technical issues and challenges we faced, we were able to overcome them all and provide a fun, educational, and engaging events and meetings. And we will continue doing our best, for however long it takes!

CINDY T. | CO-PRESIDENT

As we lost our 2020 State Leadership Conference, National Leadership Conference, and all our Southern Section events, it was almost discouraging to continue trying to successfully craft a meaningful experience for an event that almost solely relies on the energy and excitement of the members attending. However, our Oxford Academy chapter made the best of our situation despite the transition to a virtual setting: We completed registration, Section Conference tryouts, and chapter projects without fail; experienced record-breaking general meeting attendances, with up to 90 members per meeting; and, with the leftover time on our hands, hosted interactive bonding events with our new friends from Kennedy, Magnolia, and Cypress High School. The board also began to focus more on qualifying for the Gold Seal Chapter Recognition and involving more members in our collaboration with our local business, Curry Kitchen. Even more, our Special Projects work with Mrs. Hale’s Business Pathway seventh graders has continued uninterrupted. While the pandemic greatly swayed us from our regular course of action, the Oxford Academy chapter has done amazingly regardless.

SHUKAN S. | TREASURER

Going virtual has presented a new realm of possibilities. Despite initial hardships, we were able toable to adjust so quickly to the new environment. I can’t wait to see all the other creative events we

RAJ P. | CO-PRESIDENT

COVID-19 has presented the entire world with a new reality, one that is virtual and filled with Zoom calls, however, it has also afforded Oxford FBLA the opportunity to showcase our incredible innovation and adaptability. Being Co-President has allowed me to witness the contributions made by several of our FBLA family on a macro level. I would for starters like to thank my partner Cindy Tran for an excellent job delegating and managing the club, as well as Mr. Rylaarsdam, our advisor, who has been a cornerstone of support and guidance during these trying times! I also appreciate the VPs and JEOs, who have persevered to create interactive activities such as guest speakers (Mayor of Cypress & Local Restaurateur) or even adopt-a-chapter with Magnolia High School! Lastly, a huge shoutout and overall appreciation to our dedicated members who consistently show up 80-100 strong to our meetings and informational workshops! The hard work of Board and General Members will surely come to fruition at our upcoming FBLA conferences!

G U E S T S P E A K E R : M A Y O R J O H N S O N

From our amazing Chapter Project VPs, we brought on Mayor of Cypress, Rob Johnson, to discuss his experience during his office terms. Mayor Johnson describes his accomplishments and his contribution to the community. He provided an insight into how he dealt with the current pandemic, such as replacing the Cypress Festival with drive-in theaters at Cypress College.

VANESSA T. | JEO

Mayor Johnson was able to speak with us about his experiences and answer our questions regarding his profession. He talked about how he became the mayor and shared great advice with us. Inviting the mayor to speak at our general meeting was part of the Government Awareness Project. But, not only did he help us complete it, he was able to give great insight to students who might be interested in a career pathway similar to him. It was great being able to listen to all the advice and tips Mayor Johnson gave us. He explained how he was handling the COVID situations in Cypress, and how he is holding up with the pandemic. Generally, Mayor Johnson speaking at our general meeting was an educational and enlightening experience.

ETHAN L. | VP OF SPECIAL PROJECT

My personal favorite part about being in FBLA is being able to work with leaders in our local community. Even though we're in a pandemic, that doesn't have to stop. We reached out to Mayor Johnson, and he was more than happy to come out and share some of his experience with our chapter. The meeting with Mayor Johnson had a very high turnout with over 80 attendees. There were some technical difficulties, but overall, the best part of the meeting was the wisdom that Mayor Johnson imparted on us.

LEANN V. | VP OF CHAPTER PROJECT

As one of the VPs of Chapter Projects, I wanted to complete as many chapter projects as possible this year despite the challenges we have faced due to the ongoing pandemic. We invited Guest Speaker Mayor Johnson not only to complete the Government Awareness Project but to give our members some insight on how Cypress was handling the pandemic. Mayor Johnson spoke about how he became the mayor of Cypress as well as gave advice to our members. In addition, he gave us a small look into how Cypress selects candidates for mayor and even spoke about his accomplishments as mayor. By having Mayor Johnson speak at one of our general meetings, we were able to host another general meeting to encourage other members to write letters to government officials in their cities to inform them about the benefits of FBLA. Overall, this experience was very informative.

G U E S T S P E A K E R : S I D G A N D H I

From our hardworking VPs of Partnership withBusiness, we also brought on Sid Gandhi, owner ofCurry Kitchen, to describe his passion for food,hospitality, and connecting with and helping people.While also describing his experience in the businessfield, Gandhi also explains his charity work with CRYAmerica, a non-profit organization that seeks torestore basic human rights to underprivilegedchildren in India.

DAWN T. | JEO

There's a very humane connection when working with Mr. Gandhi. Supporting a business's growth while the establishment lends a hand to our chapter not only builds priceless rapport between us but also directly pours love and funds right back into our community. Mr. Gandhi's work with CRY America is inspiring— really, the promised contributions will drive our chapter to place high in our events for charitable output. Business as a field tends to be portrayed as lucrative. However, bonds like our partnership with Mr. Gandhi prove that business can be incentivized for the good of the community!

ERIN L. | PUBLICIST

Hearing about Mr. Gandhi's experiences was an eye-opening experience for me because it's not every day that I get to hear from someone who is a business owner. It provided really valuable insight into what the business world can be like and what drives someone to start a business. I also felt inspired, in a way, from working with him as he is so willing to give back to the community. Entrepreneurs are often seen as people who want to only profit for themselves, but working with Mr. Gandhi has proved that this is not always the case through his work with CRY America. Overall this partnership has been a great learning experience for our chapter!

GRISHMA J. | JEO DIRECTOR

Hearing Mr. Gandhi's story and his current actions that help support the underprivileged community was incredibly heartwarming during these testing times. With the ongoing pandemic, there are countless stories of restaurants, hotels, gyms, and other businesses struggling to pay employees. Manyof those who were employees went to work one day only to hear that the job they had held for several years was not theirs to call any more. While this year has undoubtedly been difficult for the Curry Kitchen, it was incredibly selfless and inspiring to hear of someone giving back to the community, even as they may struggle financially.

P A R T N E R S H I P W I T H B U S I N E S S C O M M I T T E E M E E T I N G S

Through our incredible VPS of Partnershipwith Business, we partnered with our localbusiness, Curry Kitchen, to help themachieve a goal, such as more engagement ineach post. These meetings are held thesecond Saturday every month at 11 AM. Andstudents plan events and help create postsfor Curry Kitchen, and sometimes studentsmay earn volunteer hours for their hard work.

RAHIL L. | VP OF PARTNERSHIP OF BUSINESS

As one of the VP's of Partnership withBusiness, I wanted to make sure we founda way to include our members in this newvirtual world. The Partnership with BusinessCommittee worked perfectly because ithelped the business and impacted ourmembers! When I logged on for the firstmeeting, I was nervous that people wouldbe hesitant to participate. On thecontrary, they were all super excited andhappy to contribute. We were able tosuccessfully update Curry Kitchen'sInstagram and help them gain over 100followers. It has truly been a greatexperience and I look forward to futuremeetings!

ANIK M. | VP OF PARTNERSHIP OF BUSINESS

With everything going virtual this year, I was initially not sure how our Partnership with Business committee would play out. After brainstorming potential businesses to partner with, we decided to partner with Curry Kitchen, a local Indian restaurant. Since we are limited in our scope of activities due to the pandemic we decided to focus away from hands-on and in-person activities such as volunteering events, instead of focusing upon what could realistically be done virtually. During our committee meetings, we decidedto focus on social media marketing, where we created posts for Curry Kitchen's Instagram page and discussed ways to make their page more appealing to customers. Even though our committee meeting turnout wasn't a high as I had expected, our members were engaged and participated a lot.

HANNAH W. | PUBLICIST

I remember when I first signed up for the Partnership with Business committee, I was confused about how this would work. But, when I went to one of the meetings, it was super interesting and cool to createcaptions for Instagram posts with other members. I brought some of my outside experience with social media and applied it here. It's crazy to think I can work for and influence a real business and its decisions, which kinda gave me a better understanding and perspective of how today's marketing works. And it showed the importance of creative marketing to reach out to new customers! This was such a helpful and insightful opportunity, and I've learned a lot through this, but it was also very fulfilling to give back to the community. And I'm really excited to go to the next one! :)

S H A R K T A N K A C T I V I T I E S

Lead by our VPs of Special Projects, we startedthe Shark Tank activities, which taught 7th to 8thgraders economic concepts! Our VPs worked withour school's CTE class to stimulate the real-worldenterprise system for 7th and 8th graders byassigning groups and having them create an ideaor innovation they would want to pitch. Throughour Shark Tank Activities, we were able to showyoung students how to be involved in any businessin today's economy and the importance ofinnovation, presentation, and communication skillsto succeed in any professional setting.

ARVIND V. | VP OF SPECIAL PROJECTS

Yash, Aaryan and I all worked to organize and hold a Shark Tank activity with Oxford's 7th-grade business CTE students as well as the 7th/8th graders of Cambridge Virtual Academy. The main purpose of this event was to introduce these young students to the American Enterprise System and have them participate in an engaging activity to learn. I personally found this rewarded for not only the students but for us as well because we were able to learn a lot from these students and the bright ideas and pitches they brought forward. It was impressive to see how these kids were able to create a project idea (and even some product demos!) in a few days and pitch it in a professional manner. I hope that we can keep the Shark Tank activity a yearly tradition with FBLA's Special Projects to continue promoting entrepreneurship and business from an early stage!

YASH C. | VP OF SPECIAL PROJECTS

Over the past three weeks, Aaryan, Arvind, and I have worked together to host two separate shark tank activities with Mrs. Hale's 7th grade Oxford class and Mrs. Hale's 7th/8th combo CVA class. The activity with the 7th graders spanned two sessions. The first session consisted of a presentation on the American Enterprise System as part of the special projects report requirement, and we reviewed some sample pitches from shark tank to brainstorm how to create an effective pitch. The 7th graders then used this information to work with a team to come back 3 days later and present live to a panel of Aaryan, Arvind, and myself. In the experience with the 7th/8th-grade combo class, the students also participated in a similar presentation, but this time worked with their team to create a video submission for a pitch. Across both of the classes, the VP's of special projects got the opportunity to hear some enthusiastic, determined students pitching brilliant, innovative ideas. The experience was extremely rewarding for us in that it allowed us to teach, share our knowledge, and generate interest for the American Enterprise System. We received wonderful feedback from the students and Mrs. Hale after completing the activity as well!

S L C T R Y O U T S

With the staggering efforts of our VPs of Competitive Events, FBLA held our very first SLC tryouts online. Through our web-based learning management system, Schoology, we were able to host tryouts for all objective, prejudged, role play, and speaking events. And while studying will be difficult for our competitors, we wish everyone the best of luck with their studies!

GRANT H. | VP OF COMPETITVE EVENTS

There was a lot to change for tryouts this year, and it seemed overwhelming at first. We faced issues that became magnified because of the online setting, such as creating a tryout schedule for all of the objective events in one day and ensuring that everyone does not cheat while taking their tryout test. We are quite lucky to have a platform like Schoology because of its features like Conferences and taking official tests and quizzes. Although navigating Schoology and setting everything up was confusing, it paid off in the end. I think all of the tryouts went smoothly and everyone did not have much trouble taking part in tryouts. Now that we got the biggest hurdle out of the way, now all of our attention is on Section Conference and preparing for another year of Sweepstakes. I hope everyone continues to study hard leading up to SSLC, and Jane and I will do our best to create study sessions that can provide a lot of members valuable support to succeed!

JANE K. | VP OF COMPETITVE EVENTS

Trying to determine and plan the method for tryouts was definitely more difficult this year

jjjkjkjkjk. .........jhjhjh compared to past years. We had to try toprevent/ deter cheating for objective eventsand prevent any schedule conflicts. Even using Schoology turned out to be more difficult than expected due to issues with adding all of the members and ensuring that Grant and I could run the test offs successfully. Still, despite these initial struggles, test-offs went really well with the majority of the people we needed to test being able to do so. We were even able to ensure that everyone who signed up for SSLC was able to receive at least one event! I hope that, despite the virtual setting, everyone studies hard and does well at SSLC!

F B L A S O C I A L E V E N T

O X F O R D X C Y P R E S S X K E N N E D Y X M A G N O L I A

Organized by our VP of Membership, we hosted our very first online social with Cypress, Kennedy, and Magnolia high school! We were able to meet and bond with other FBLA members from 7th to 12th grade. The social was divided into two rooms that students can join! Students could choose to watch Black Panther or play games, such as Scribbl.io, Club Penguin, and more!

CATHERINE L. | VP OF MEMBERSHIP

To be honest, initially, I was worried that not that many people would come to the event or would find it boring. However, I knew right away when the event started that it wouldn't be the case; there were over 30 people in attendance from all the schools from 7th to 12th grade. Everyone (basically) stayed to finish Black Panther even though we went overtime, and the game room was so fun! Everyone was participating and we enjoyed bonding through playing so many games and just talking with each other (FBLA kids are cool and don't just study). I think that the fact that it was virtual actually made it easier for people to come because we didn't have to worry about commuting or facilities. I definitely look forward to planning another one in the near future :)

SALONI J. | SECRETARY

In the beginning of the year, I was a bit concerned about how we would be able to maintain membership engagement in a virtual setting, but this joint social allowed members to connect with other FBLA members throughout the district through fun games and enjoying their Saturday with a nice movie. The game room definitely seemed like a blast and members in the movie room were so engaged in watching Black Panther that even when we announced the bonding event to be over, members still stayed in the room to finish the movie! Although I did not see as many general members from Oxford Academy FBLA as I expected, I still consider the bonding event to be a success because although it was in a virtual setting, it gave members the opportunity to build connections with each other informally. I really hope we organize another joint social like this in the near future! :)

Special Guest

PULKIT G. | CHS FBLA PRESIDENT

It was an awesome event filled with great people! I personally was in the game room and we had a ton of fun messing around and playing games like Shell Shockers (an egg multiplayer shooter) and Club Penguin. We even had a bit of a roast battle at the end.

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S

Some events may or may not be present

2021 Southern Section Leadership Conference

Where: Online (More Updates will come soon) Date: February 2-6, 2021 Time: TBD

Partnership with General Business Meetings Committee Meetings

Where: Google Meeting Date: Second Asynchronous Saturday Wednesday of Every Month Time: 11 1:35 AMPM - 2:40 PM

Partnership with General Business Meetings Committee Meetings

Where: Google Meeting Date: Asynchronous Second Saturday Wednesday of Every Month Time: 1:35 11 AMPM - 2:40 PM