How does one gain business experience in high school? Sometimes it can be difficult acquiring a spot at an internship or getting a real job while just being a high school student.
If you’ve ever heard of FBLA (Future business Leaders of America), it is a club in schools all across America that allows students to dip their toes in any aspect of business that they’re interested in.
FBLA holds competitions on the regional, state, and national level to see who already possesses a level of leadership and professionalism that should be recognized. Even if members don’t make it far in competitions it is beneficial for them to see what they might be interested in and to try new things.
Making an impact on the community is something that every club aspires to do, and UHS’s FBLA has been trying especially hard in recent years to get involved in the community and reel in new members.
FBLA has been involved in the community through the Holiday Family Fun Night for the students of Urbana Elementary School where they held a bunch of events for the kids like winter themed arts and crafts as well as having the kids partake in plays.
Recently they hosted a valentines candy gram sale and received a little over 200 dollars in profit to put toward members being able to go to nationals. FBLA president, Rayn Taskeen told us that, “It would be amazing to see FBLA expanding out of just being a competition, and actually doing more for the school and community.” 
Rayn also said that his favorite memory from FBLA was going to nationals; over 15,000 students across the country attended to either compete or show support for the aspiring leaders. Nationals hold impressive activities for the members, such as a block party, or trips to an aquarium. Bonding is one of the most important things when it comes to teamwork. And teamwork is what makes leadership possible. Rayn even mentions how close he became with fellow members after nationals, and how he met people he never would have met otherwise.
Bang Luong, Creative director of FBLA even said in an interview how Rayn Taskeen is her biggest business inspiration. She mentions how she, “used to have trouble with presenting, like my voice would tremble or it would be too low to hear, and FBLA gave me a lot of opportunities to hone in my presentation skills. And with my role as the Creative Director, it gave me the chance to try out public speaking even if it was on a small scale” She learned how to become a leader from the previous and current presidents.
Often times life is about connections and putting yourself out there. FBLA is an example of students putting in the effort to make that possible for other students at UHS.