Teens Talking Business

Students all over the world aspire to have futures in business, and at Independence many students are taking part in things that will help them to connect with those that have similar interests and make a difference while gaining business leadership skills that can be implemented within their futures. With over 5,200 chapters all around America, thousands of students take part in the Future Business Leaders of American (FBLA) clubs at their schools. FBLA helps to guide high school students by preparing them for careers in business through academic competitions, leadership development and several other opportunities. 

Tiffany Hannas, a junior at Independence, had joined FBLA last year at Briar Woods. New schools bring new opportunities, so after her positive experience at Briar Woods, she took it upon herself to help introduce a new chapter here at Independence. Her goal has been to help her fellow tigers get involved and expand their knowledge on business and business life overall. 

“For those thinking of joining, if you want to put something on your college resume and really just get a hand in the business world this is a great club. There are lots of scholarships one can enter for and it’s really, really cool,” stated Haddish. 

Junior Krish Ranjani is the Vice President of FBLA at Independence. His main priorities are to oversee operations of the club, help register for competitions and assist the other officers. For the regional competition on March 11, he had been preparing for the broadcast journalism event with other members in order to create a news show for Independence which outlined stories on financial literacy , social media use on campus and sports. 

“The main skills we learn are public speaking, going through the entrepreneurial process of how to create, design, evaluate and repeat. We learn lots about business procedures; topics range from business ethics to marketing and broadcast journalism. Overall, the experience of going to a competition and competing teaches so many necessary things like time management and presentation skills that can be implemented in whatever field you choose in the future,” Ranjani stated. 

Ranjani emphasized the difference between FBLA and DECA for those who don’t know, by explaining how FBLA’s roots go deeper than those of DECA in ways. Within FBLA, there are lots of partnerships with large corporations and universities, while DECA’s events are more of a leadership conference that is centralized towards marketing. FBLA overall has a wider variety in terms of presentations and topics at competitions.

Independence’s previous fundraising efforts include selling t-shirts and pies around Thanksgiving, and they hope to do much more. With that said, while the current COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt to their upcoming competitions and plans, Independence’s chapter hopes to focus on gaining new members, increasing their partnerships, taking part in lots of more fun activities, holding writing workshops and gearing everyone to overall compete more.