Building Event Sponsorship to Build Future Leaders
Are you interested in supporting an organization that empowers high school students to become strong business and technical leaders of the future? The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) career technical student organization is an excellent place to start. As someone who has been involved with FBLA for my entire adult life, I can attest to the organization’s mission to advocate ethics, advance skills, and promote leadership opportunities.
My proposal for sponsorship of a new event for the national competitive awards program for FBLA involves merging an existing event with a new performance event to create something bigger and better. By doing so, we can encourage the stimulation of IT leadership thinking skills in high school students. It’s a win-win situation because we need to make sure future IT organizations have good leadership with strong ethics and strong technical and business skills.
Why did I choose FBLA? Well, it’s an organization that has had a significant impact on my life. I started as a local chapter member and volunteered for projects that raised money and improved our county courthouse property. The opportunities provided by FBLA were so beneficial that I ran for local chapter president, and then state officer. My involvement led to my winning the state competition for Mr. FBLA, which became a significant factor in my professional development.
As a high school student, I was even nominated as the high school student for the Academy of Achievement for the state of Indiana, where I met pre-eminent leaders of many fields. I had the opportunity to bury Ed Asner in the sand, have lunch with Sandra Day O’Connor, speak to Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager about my interests in aerospace engineering, have lunch with Jim Henson, and dinner with Vinny Testaverde. I also flew on a charter flight to the Grand Canyon and met Olivia De Havilland and heard stories about filming Gone with the Wind.
I had lunch with Dr. Jane Goodall and came this close to zigging to a completely different direction in my life and went to Africa to work with her when she suggested it. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I had done that, but as Spock said “You must have faith that the universe will unfold as it should.” And so, I don’t look back, just forward.
After my high school years, I continued to be involved in FBLA’s professional division, assisting with the state conference by providing technical leadership to the organization, providing workshops, judging events, interviewing candidates, and more. I have even been recognized as Business Person of the Year for the organization.
If you’re interested in getting involved with FBLA, check if there’s a local chapter in your area and volunteer to be on their advisory board. You can also volunteer at the state level by conducting a workshop or judging an event. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can even sponsor an event at the state or national level, or create a proposal for a new event to sponsor.
FBLA has nearly 250,000 student members across the United States and Department of Defense schools in Europe. It’s an organization that helps create the leaders of tomorrow, and you can get involved today.
So what is my plan? First I am sketching out objectives for my company’s involvement. The second step will be to analyze existing competitive events and come up with a structure for the proposed event. Then I will create a sample test, answer key, performance event, rating sheet, and judges instructions. I am also pursuing other missing pieces from other organizations to help fill in the gaps in this event plan. Then, I will propose for my company to sponsor the event formally which involves paying sponsorship to the organization.
I will continue to update as this progresses with what I learn, the kind of experience I have and where this eventually goes and share with you my work on this to the extent I am able. Let me know if you have ideas as we go along on this journey.
