Clymer student BOE members share FBLA nationals experience
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CLYMER -- Recently, Clymer Central School's student Board of Education members along with their other FBLA members traveled to San Antonio, Texas, for the FBLA National Leadership Conference.
Student BOE member Roman Wassink shared some highlights from the experience with the overall board during their July meeting. Wassink handed out papers to the board with multiple pictures of some of the experience. Pictures included the group at the cafe, hotel, in front of the Towers of America, at the Alamo, at the FBLA interview desk at Nationals with their Gold Champion Chapter banner, and a picture with the President and CEO of FBLA, Jennifer Woods.
"We were walking by the FBLA gift shop and I noticed her and was like 'guys, she kind of runs this, we should get a photo'," Wassink said. "So we got a quick photo and she asked us what competitions we were competing in and we just got to chit-chat with her for a little."
Wassink added that the chapter earned their Gold Champion Chapter status for the year, which is the hardest one to get, with there being different levels. Work for that begins in August, with the chapter doing different types of competitions, and once it is approved they are given points. 6500 points or more are needed to earn Gold Champion Chapter, Wassink added.
Wassink talked a bit more about some of the photos with the board, before running through a few bullet points of other things they did, including restaurants they got to eat at. At the conference itself the students were able to attend a few workshops and do some pin trading.
"So pin trading is, each state gets their own designed pin that they get and you can also buy more if you want," Wassink said. "The point of it is to socialize with others and you have to be there to understand, this is like a pretty serious thing. I think someone bought a pin for like $50. ... Some people spend the entire conference on this and it's really cool to see how obsessed some people can get with it sometimes."
Students also visited some college booths that were at the conference, and listened to a presenter who discussed their experience on getting onto Shark Tank, which took them two tries to do. Students also visited Six Flags and saw some different types of culture and art from walking around the city. Jeffrey Perry, another FBLA member who was also a state officer this past year, was chosen as Who's Who in FBLA for New York at the State Convention, giving him the opportunity to walk across the stage at Nationals.
"This is one of the most prestigious awards you can get as a student, so one of the benefits of that is you get to walk across the stage," Wassink said. "His name was also shown on all of the projectors and screens throughout some of the sessions in front of the 1700 people."
Board member Beth Collins was also honored at the FBLA National Conference for earning Business Person of the Year. Perry also received a pin for the Capstone Business Achievement Award, which Wassink said was similar to the Gold Chapter award but for each individual, with activities one can do online. He noted the capstone award takes a lot of time and dedication, with Perry beginning the work last April and finishing it this April.
Wassink added that college students were there as well, though collegiate FBLA is not as big and competitions are harder, so not everyone has as much time. Board members said that it sounded like the National Conference was a great experience, and acknowledged Clymer's FBLA getting the school on the National Stage, especially as Wassink noted the only other schools in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegheny counties -- which encompasses FBLA District 13 -- with an FBLA program are Falconer and Randolph.