Welcome Back!

Welcome back to Blue Mountain Region FBLA! It’s great to be back, right? For most of you, I realize that school is not your favorite place to be after a cool three months off. However, we can make this year different; we can make this year so much better! Beginning with innovative and new programs, a few “classic” programs, an awesome state fundraiser, and who can forget- competition domination? If we come together to work towards achieving our goals, I know we can make this year the absolute best it can be!

Let’s start with our innovative new programs. First off, Oregon FBLA is starting a President’s Council. The idea is that every chapter will choose one representative to attend meetings and monthly conference calls on behalf of their school. President’s Council members will be the voice of their chapter and share all their chapter’s great ideas, opinions and thoughts. The President’s Council will meet together at the Oregon Leadership Institute, Regional Skills Conference, and State Business Leadership Conference. Between each meeting President’s Council members will join a conference call with other members in their region to share ideas, discuss upcoming events and network.

Another new program is -well, I’m assuming you already know about it since you’re reading it: this blog! This blog will be a great way for us to share ideas and network as a region. So we can all get involved, I’ll be asking for input and help in writing content.

As for our “classic” programs, be sure to get started on reaching the next level of the Business Achievement Awards (BAA) program. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the program, there are four levels: Future, Business, Leader, and America. The awards must be earned in sequential order, and only require a few activities to complete each one! The cool part about it is that colleges love the BAA system. Once you earn one, you can move on to the next one. There is no limit to how many levels you can earn within a single year. When you earn the Future and Business levels, you’ll be recognized at our regional meeting at the State Business Leadership Conference. If, and when you earn the Leader level, you’ll be recognized during closing session at State Business Leadership Conference. Then, when you reach the America level and you earn this prestigious award, you’ll be recognized not only at State Conference, but at the National Leadership Conference as well. It is a great program, so I sincerely suggest asking your adviser to sign you up!

In addition to all the new and “classic” programs offered this year, you can also look forward to our fantastic state fundraiser! Instead of choosing a different charity the officer team, along with the Boards of Advisers and Trustees, chose to help out a charity that is near and dear to all of our hearts; the March of Dimes. We are calling the Community Service Project “Bucks for Babies”. The guideline for the Bucks for Babies is rather simple: raise as much money as you can for the March of Dimes as possible. Chapters that raise the most money (per capita) by will be handsomely rewarded at the State Business Leadership Conference. More information will be coming your way soon, so stay tuned!

Oh, and who can forget competition? This year we have three chances to really shine! First, there is the Regional Skills Conference, then, the State Business Leadership Conference, and finally, the National Leadership Conference. To come out on top, you will need to select your events as soon as possible and study, study, study! Let’s show the state, along with the rest of the nation, who we are, and that we’ve come to compete and increase our dominance!

This is going to be a great year and I can’t wait to meet all of you! The blog will have some more information in the coming weeks about upcoming events, as well as some other cool stuff like Q&A, ‘Tips and Tricks’ and member spotlights. Again, to make this successful, I’ll need your input. What do you want to see? Do you have any questions? Feel free to e-mail me at bluemountainvp@oregonfbla.org. Or you can always visit the Oregon FBLA website at www.oregonfbla.org. I can’t wait to hear from you!