Ocracoke School has set up a Future Business Leaders of America club to help students develop leadership, business and career skills.
This is the first time FBLA has been offered in Hyde County Schools and the first chapter for Ocracoke School.
So far, it has four members, said Joan O’Neal, who advises the club along with Gwen Austin.
Among the activities, club members attend meetings to learn about business topics, teamwork and professionalism.
The club participates in school and community service projects to encourage responsibility. Students prepare for competitions in areas such as public speaking, accounting, marketing and technology.
FBLA members can also serve as local officers to practice leadership and organizational skills.
“Island businesses are used to getting workers,” Austin said.
But this training goes beyond just being an employee.
“This (trains) the new future business owners,” O’Neal said.
This year’s group hopes to attend the Eastern Region competition at J.H. Rose High School in Greenville on Dec. 6.
The group attended the Oct. 21 meeting of the Ocracoke Civic & Business Association meeting to explain about their club. They said the events in the regional competition they would compete in at the Dec. 6 conference would be accounting, business communication, computer applications and business procedures.
Members who place in a competitive event are eligible to attend the state Leadership Conference in Greensboro next year.
The club is researching and planning to create an island cookbook as a future fundraiser to help fund these off-island activities.
They are looking for donors and sponsors to cover the costs of the Dec. 6 conference, which will cost about $1,000 for travel, hotels and other expenses, O’Neal said at the Oct. 21 meeting
Local business owners are encouraged to visit as guest speakers.
Anyone interested in donating, sponsoring or speaking is asked to contact O’Neal or Austin at the school, 252-928-3251. Sponsor checks can be made out to Ocracoke School with FBLA in the memo line and sent to the school: P.O. Box 189, Ocracoke, NC 27960.
