2009 Fall-Winter Spotlight

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New Jersey FBLA Spotlight

Volume 1, Issue 1

Fall Winter 2009


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2009-10 STATE OFFICERS

President Sachet Choudhary

Northern Region VP Romil Malkan

North Central Region VP Lloyd Marcus Parker

Central Region VP Jeff Chen

Southern Region VP Matt Dellaira

Secretary Cristina Sorice

Community Service VP Billy Pereira

Membership VP Urvashi Banerjea

Parliamentarian Sunny Shah

Historian Sam Bhakuni

Webmaster Daniel Henriques

- Have some interesting FBLA events going on at your school?- Has one of your members done something news-worthy?

- Have an article idea that relates to FBLA?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, feel free tosubmit an article to The Spotlight for publication.So get writing and send your finished product to

[email protected]


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N EW JERSEY F UT UR E BUSINESS L EADERS OF

A MERICA

A Message From Your President 4

Greetings From Your Regional VPs 5

Community Service Spotlight- March of Dimes 6

FBLA to PBL. Where do I begin? 7

Local Chapter Submissions 8-9

Spotlight Through Video 10

How to Start a Local Chapter Website 11


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Hello Members and Advisers,

My name is Sachet Choudhary and I am your New Jersey FBLA State President for the 2009-2010 school year. It promises to be another tremendous year for NJ FBLA as we Tune into Suc-cess and show everyone that were Simply the Best!

The road ahead may be unknown, but that makes it all the more exciting. The road aheadmay be filled with challenges, but that is where opportunities will arise. The road ahead maybe arduous, but that is where leaders will be made. No matter how hard something may be,there is nothing that we, as FBLA members, cannot accomplish.

This year is all about transcending boundaries. We must reach beyond our limits and soar tonew heights. Each year, chapters are faced with a multitude of challenges: recruitment, fund-raising, community service, and countless more. However, the 2009-2010 State Officer Teamis ready to help chapters in any way possible in order for them to Tune into Success!

This years State Officer Team has been hard at work since July; working and developing newprograms and ideas to make New Jersey FBLA Simply the Best! Coming your way this yearare:

Guides and walkthroughs tailor-made to suit specific issues chapters deal with! Theyinclude: Community Service, Fundraising, Parliamentary Procedure, and Chapter Pub-licity. Each guide will comprehensively cover the respective topic and serve as a valu-able resource throughout the year!

The blogs are back! Each State Officer will be blogging throughout the year with up-dates, news, and simple hellos! Check them out often! *cough* Especially mine!

The Five Faces of FBLAis a program designed to stimulate more interest in FBLA. Eachmonth on the website, five distinct careers will be showcased. Alongside a descriptionof the occupation, each interactive feature will include how the career corresponds tobusiness and which FBLA Competitive Event relates to it.

This is just a sampling of whats in store for NJ FBLA! It will be a landmark year for the Gar-den State in every aspect. We must unite as one and face every challenge head-on. Althoughit may be difficult, it certainly is not impossible.

Please feel free to contact me anytime at [email protected] or through Facebook. Id loveto hear from everyone. Take some time to explore www.njfbla.org ! Take care New Jersey!

Tune In Next Time,

Sachet Choudhary


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For the first organization, Iwill elaborate on the Marchof Dimes, an organizationthat holds a special purposein FBLA.

The March of Dimes wasfounded by PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt in1938. Originally, it wasknown as the NationalFoundation for InfantileParalysis, and focused onresearching a method oftreatment and preventionof polio (F.D.R had con-tracted polio around thesame time). However, withthe discovery of the poliovaccine in 1955, the Marchof Dimes directed its effortstowards the welfare of ba-bies and preventing prema-ture birth.

Now, more than 60 yearsafter the founding of theorganization, the March ofDimes is an integral part insaving thousands of babiesfrom premature death,along with providing sup-

port to some of these ba-bies families. The Marchof Dimes provides relief ona plethora of fronts: theyprovide education to par-ents, research causes of pre-mature birth and geneticdefects and support health-care for all new mothersand babies. As one wouldexpect, this organization

needs all of the help theycan get when it comes to

tackling these very largeprojects.

FBLA and the March ofDimes formed a partner-ship in 1970. Together,they formed an alliance thatthey hoped would helpsave babies all around then a -tion.

Throughout the FutureBusiness Leaders of Amer-icas involvement with theMarch of Dimes, FBLA hasraised over $12 million.Every year, as a way to giveback to our organization,the March of Dimes pro-vides grants to FBLA chap-ters to help promote moresuccessful projects andmore unified chapters.These grants usually comein the form of Mission LIFT(Leading Into the FutureTogether) grants.

Have trouble thinking of aproject to raise funds forthe March of Dimes? Avery common one is settingup a walk-a-thon, wherepeople raise funds to par-ticipate. This event is quitespecific to the March ofDimes. If you have troubledrafting the project, you

can reference to my Com-munity Service Guide, con-

tact me directly, or get incontact with a March ofDimes regional representa-tive.

So what does the March ofDimes mean to you? TheMarch of Dimes is a won-derful organization thatdoes a lot of good for thiscommunity. If you ever getstuck, they are very helpfuland provide a lot of re-sources that help get projects off the ground. If youwould like to learn moreabout the March of Dimes,you can log on to their web-s i t e a twww.marchofdimes.com/ newjersey . The New Jerseychapter section of the web-site will help in providingmore localized news aboutwhat is going on at the statelevel. If you would like tocontact the March of Dimes,find a representative fromyour region and give thema call. They are extremelyhelpful, so dont feel shy.

I encourage you to start aproject for the March ofDimes so we can help Singthe Song of Life. If you haveany further questions, com-ments, or concerns, donthesitate to contact me, BillyPereira, [email protected].

With the thousands of charitable organizations that are available to fundraise for intodays society, it may sometimes be hard to find the right organization that fitsyour project. It may be difficult to search through the countless organizations to

find the right cause, or the proper contact information. It is for these reasons that I have decided to take the time to elaborate on a specific organization each Spotlight

issue to highlight exactly what they do.


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A few years ago, I was in thesame position as many of youseniors in high school. Theend of October was ap-proaching and I knew as asenior, I had to begin theprocess of college applica-tions, as well as register for a

few SAT IIs and continue todo well in my AP classes. Itwas not an easytask to trackdeadlines, scram-ble around fortranscripts andstill keeping mycool as a senior. Iknew time management wasneeded on my part as well asorganization and planningfor the first half of my senioryear. Counselors work totheir potential, but the major-ity of the process does fall onthe students and there aresome questions that aresometimes left unanswered.

However, this year, New Jer-sey FBLA PBL is bringing aprogram that will guide stu-dents who need advice ontheir transformation from ahigh school senior to a col-lege freshman. During thesummer, when the entireNew Jersey FBLA-PBL StateOfficer team met, one thingwe emphasized was the unity

of FBLA and PBL. Although

we belong to different divi-sions, we are one organiza-tion, and PBL wants to helpFBLA members with thistransition.The program will take placeas a forum on the New JerseyFBLA website where FBLA

members can ask questionsregarding colleges and PBL

members will answer them tothe best of their abilities. Thequestions can be about col-lege applications to collegelife and, as PBL members, wehave experienced both andcan talk about both aspects.Also, the fact that there arePBL chapters across the statefrom different colleges, FBLAmembers can get answersfrom varying college experi-ences (For example, studentlife at a big campus com-pared to one on a smallercampus).

This program has not yetstarted but keep checking theNJ FBLA website for updates.In the meantime, if you stillhave questions about college,

the New Jersey PBL Officer

team will be glad to answerthem. Please visit the New Jersey PBL website atwww.pbl.njfbla.org to findtheir contact information.

This is one of the several pro-grams PBL has lined up for

FBLA members. As the yearprogresses, we will beunleashing moreways on howFBLA memberscan benefit fromthe organization.As for now, sen-iors, just make

sure you have marked downa set of deadlines for the col-leges you are applying to. Just take it one step at a timeand soon, you will be wear-ing a cap and gown, ready towalk out of high school!

Our next article will be focus-ing on how FBLA has im-pacted college students andhow they are benefiting from joining PBL. Stay tuned!

Hello New Jersey FBLA, I am Usman Ahmad, and I am your New Jersey PBL State President. This year, Sachet Choudhary, your FBLA State President, and I, intend onstrengthening the relationship between FBLA and PBL. The other PBL officers and I have decided to write an article in every Spotlight about how we can help transition

from high school to college, and why you should join PBL.

FBLA TO PBL


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FBLA Experience

By Abhishek Damaraju-~ Hunterdon Regional High School

As an FBLA member attending Hunterdon Regional High School, I felt very privileged to have two guest speak-ers visit our school. I enjoyed listening to the stories of the owner of Flemington Furs and a CEO from Hunter-don Medical Center. They shared how they attained the great success that they have today. In addition, theygave us great advice on how to be good business leaders.

The owner of Flemington Furs shared that to be a good business leader one must hire the best employees andcommunicate well with them. I strongly agree as these factors seem very important when one plans on runninga business. On a more personal note, I have seen my uncle handling a business of his own. I have observedthat communication is imperative to having a successful business. Furthermore after hearing from these greatspeakers and their success, I am tremendously happy to be a member of FBLA and truly inspired to one dayrun or work in a business and hopefully share the same success they do.

Career Night

By Dedeepya Konuthula,~ Old Bridge High School

Career Night is one of Old Bridge FBLAs most anticipated annual events. Every year, excitedmembers arrive to observe and question enthusiastic speakers from a variety of fields the stu-dents are interested in pursuing. Each speaker is provided with a room for his or her presenta-

tion and then speaks and answers questions for three twenty-minute sessions. The professionalsenjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences with so many interested young people, and themembers gain invaluable insight into career fields from these presentations. The event was or-ganized for the past two years by the current NJFBLA Secretary, Cristina Sorice.

The event always promises to be a huge success, and this year was no exception. It was heldon Tuesday, November 24. In the opening session, Usman Ahmed, the NJ Phi Beta LambdaState President, gave a speech about how joining FBLA-PBL can directly affect your career path.Then, the students were introduced to the speakers and the event began. Charles Muldoon, anFBI agent who is invited back year after year, always has more members flocking to his doorthan there are chairs in the room. The owners of the local MTV Driving School are also a popular

destination; business owners speak volumes to student who are, after, the future business lead-ers of our country. Barbara Lyons left many members with a newfound interest in marketing,and Steven Parisi, an electrical engineer from ConEdison was an instant hit with the aspiringengineers. Among the other guests were an optometrist and an investigator from the MiddlesexCounty Prosecutors office. Many students had to be ushered out the rooms at the end of eachsession; fortunately, they were given another opportunity to satisfy their curiosity when every-one met in the main cafeteria for refreshments at the end. While they might not have gotten achance to ask every one of their questions, all of the members went home informed and in-spired.


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Flyers : Colorful flyers with catchy slogans werehung along the schools hallways before the firstmeeting. They were very eye appealing and at-tracted a lot of attention.

InformationalBooklet : Compiledby Board members,the booklet servedas a guide for ex-

plaining FBLA eventsand activities. A ten-page handbook, itincluded letters fromkey people includingour school principal,local advisor, chap-ter presidents, andthe state president.A copy was handedto all interested stu-dents and parents atthe Club Fair. Thisgave them an oppor-

tunity to learn aboutFBLA.

Video : Created by our Historians, the video wasplayed during the schools annual club fair andattracted many students and parents. This use of technology attracted many people to our boothand conveyed our message in an interesting andinformative way.

Business cards : Business cards with thefirst meetings date printed were handed out.These served as reminders to potential clubmembers.

Morning Announcements : Captivatingannouncements were made during homeroom,prior to the first meeting, to interest newmembers.

The Stevens wayBy Amulya Kattimani~ John P. Stevens High School

Kenneth Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, says, The key to successful leadership today is influence,not authority. At John P Stevens, we believe that making a positive impact and influencing people to take the rightstep has become our key to effective and aspiring leadership. Although ones authority counts, we believe that morecan be gained through motivation. We believe that it is important not only to lead people, but lead people with inspi-ration rather than subordination.

This fall, JPSFBLA, as every other chapter in the nation, had its yearly challenge: to recruit new members. The offi-cers job was to influence incoming freshmen and underclassmen to get involved, and encourage existing memberso make a difference. While increasing membership has been an ongoing concern at every level of this organization,he JPS FBLA Board wanted to implement new and unique ways to expand, reach more students, and allow greater

numbers to gain benefits from this club. Our public relations campaign included the following:

Shiv Khera, author of You Can Win, says, Winners dont do different things, they just do things differently. Thiswas our attempt in bringing different approaches and employing multiple methods to increase membership in ourlocal chapter. We worked to inspire people to become part of the largest student-led business organization --FBLA. It is satisfying to say that our chapter did have an increase in members, and we hope to grow bigger andreach greater heights in years to come. As part of FBLA, it is undoubtedly true that one can enhance his or herleadership qualities to its zenith, groom oneself to face real life challenges and exercise the right attributes to be-come successful in life; in short, one can grow indefinitely and reach for the stars


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It is becoming increasingly evident that the world around us is changing by the minute. How we communicate with each other is changing. It wasnt too long ago when we communicated with each other by sending mail on horseback. Today, wcan have a conversation by simply picking up the phone, or sending an e-mail, texor twitter. Since we have made such advances in technology, why should FBLAmembers continue to use antiquated means to communicate with each other?

It is my goal that by the end of the year, I will add an online video module to the traditional written format of Spotlight. By doing

this, chapters will be able to share their activities more fre- quently and more efficiently. While members will still send in written articles, they will have the option of sending in their videos as well. The videos should be about something your chapter has done. It can be anything from a community service event your chapter has participated in to your chapter anec- dotes and video clippings from a previous conference you attended. While videos relating to FBLA are welcomed, I encourage you to specifically send in videos of events your local chapter has taken part in. For example, my school, ScotcPlains-Fanwood High School organizes dodge-ball tournaments to raise funds, andCommunity Service VP, Billy Pereiras chapter at Wallkill Valley organizes a fund raising event called Super Night. These are stories that all our fellow New JerseyFBLA members would like to hear about. In your video outline please include details about why, how and where you planned the event and your contact information. By including these key items FBLA members will have a better appreciationof your event, and may call you directly for additional information.

I'm sure that the addition of the video module to our Spotlight will provide us with a much richer and fuller experience while hanging on to all the original componenof The Spotlight. So, let the lights and cameras roll, I hope to see you all in-action. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine how manywords a video is worth?

Yours Truly,Sam Bhakuni


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What are the benefits of having a chapter website?A chapter website can help to schedule meetings, publicize events, and gatherinformation for members. You can put up the next meeting date on the website.You can digitalize your posters and put them up on the website as well. You canalso use the chapter website to put up a form to have members choose whichcompetitive events to compete in. You will also qualify for more recognition andawards as there are a few awards that require having or updating a chapter web-site. Youll have your own spot online to show contacts or other FBLA members.Finally, your team and members will gain experience in updating a website anew important skill in this ever-online environment.

How do I start off?You can either choose to ask your tech department for access to the school web-site or you can use a service like Wordpress.com or Blogger to host your chapterwebsite. Also, you can look online for guides (a quick Google search will help) orask your members if any of them currently have experience with setting up awebsite or blogging. Even previous experience with online journals will help.Consider forming a small committee among your officers and members to re-search and create your chapter website.

If you choose to go through your tech departmentAsk for the procedures involved in setting up a section on your school website.More than likely, they already have a system in place for your chapter to use. Youcan request an account to their website editor. If they do not have a system inplace, look for tips on my blog (Web Outlook) in the future at www.njfbla.org

If you choose to go through a free service like Wordpress.com orBloggerThey will provide a visual interface for you to use. You can go to their websiteand sign-up for an account. You will then receive an email about your account.You can login into their system and start typing around.

A note about my blog at www.njfbla.org In the future, I will be posting to my blog more tips about how to utilize webtechnology effectively. Stay tuned to my blog (Web Outlook) at www.njfbla.org.


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2009 NLC FBLA WINNERS LISTANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

Accounting I Ben Biran 5th PlaceMarlboro High SchoolSree Kolli 10th Place

Marlboro High School

Banking & Financial Syste ms David Bentrovato 5th PlaceWilliam Chen Jonathan Lin

Whippany Park High SchoolBusiness Calculations Matthew Bonczek 5th Place

Sayreville War Memorial High School

Business Financial Plan William Cheng 1st PlaceKaren Feng

Richard KimPiscataway High School

Business Presentation Mohammad M. Mallick 9th PlaceDaniel Kao

Beverly WongPiscataway High School

Stock Market/Investments David Rinder 1st Place(Open Event) Marlboro High School

Computer Applications Jeremy Buhain 3rd PlaceBelleville High School

Database Design & Applications Arjun Vijayakumar 2nd PlaceBridgewater-Raritan High School

Economics Adam Levine 10th PlaceMarlboro High School

David Rinder 8th PlaceMarlboro High School

Global Business Evan Lee 2nd PlaceSabina Rza

Marlboro High SchoolArnav Sharma 9th Place

Parvez Ahmed GarciaWest Windsor-Plainsboro High School

Help Desk August Culbert 5th Place

Rumson-Fairhaven Regional High School

Introduction to Business Megan Krishnamurthy 5th PlaceHightstown High Scho

Saumya Mehta 6th PlaceWest Windsor-Plainsboro High Scho

Introduction to Business Communication Zach Lustbader 4th PlaceLivingston High School

Introduction to Parliamentary Procedures Jane Wang 5th PlacAcademies @ Englewood

OVEROVEROVEROVER 50505050 NLC WINNERSNLC WINNERSNLC WINNERSNLC WINNERS

11111111 GOLD SEAL CHAPTERSGOLD SEAL CHAPTERSGOLD SEAL CHAPTERSGOLD SEAL CHAPTERS


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Introduction to Alec Benzer 8th PlaceTechnology Concepts Bergen County Academies

Job Interview Kaitlyn Schoeffel 5th PlaceEgg Harbor Township High School

Management Information Sean Mulligan 6th PlaceSystems Evan Tencer

Bergen County Academies

Marketing John Fredric Neal 4th Place

Cumberland Regional High SchoolDedeepya Konuthula 8th PlaceOld Bridge High School

Networking Concepts Brendan Parks 5th PlaceSpotswood High School

Sports Management Anthony Nguyen 2nd PlaceParsippany Hills High School

State Chapter Annual Business Report New Jersey 9th Place

Whos Who in FBLA Sean CallahanWallkill Valley Regional High SchoolPaul Cohen Eastern Region VPVineland High School

BusinessPerson of the Year Mr. Stuart CohenAmeriprise Financial

Vineland High School

Largest State Chapter New Jersey 2nd PlaceMembership : Eastern Region Professional Division FBLA affiliation

Largest Local Chapter Membership Camden County Technical School 1st PlaceEastern Region Professional Division FBLA Affiliation

March of Dimes Wallkill Valley Regional 1st PlaceLargest School Donation High School

March of Dimes New Jersey FBLA 2nd PlaceLargest State Donation

Mission Lift March of Dimes Wallkill Valley Regional$1,000 High School

Outstanding Local Advisor Val PembertonCumberland Regional High School

Gold Seal Chapter Burlington County Institute of Technology - WestamptonCamden County Technical School PennsaukenCamden County Technical School GloucesterManville High SchoolMonmouth County Career CenterNorthern Burlington County Regional High SchoolOld Bridge High SchoolPemberton Township High SchoolPiscataway High SchoolPompton Lakes High SchoolWallkill Valley Regional High School


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2009 Fall-Winter Spotlight

Documents

Transcript of 2009 Fall-Winter Spotlight