FBLA Dominates State Competition

Congratulations go out to the Creekview Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) for a job well done at this year’s State Competition. Out of the 18 students who qualified for the State Competition, seven of those students received recognition and two are National Qualifiers.

Individual awards ranged from 3rd place to 10th place in a variety of subjects including Digital Design and Promotion, Hospitality Management, Help Desk, Marketing, and Network Design Team. The placements include 10th place to Tommy A. in Digital Design and Promotion, 9th place to Jonathan R. in Digital Design and Promotion, 10th place to Amanda F. in Hospitality Management, 7th place to Kelly A. in Help Desk, and 4th place to Jonathan R. and Tommy A. in Network Design Team.

In addition to these awards, 3rd place went to Sam G. in Hospitality Management and 3rd place also went to Haley H. in Marketing; these two students are National Qualifiers for FBLA.

These “outstanding” students provided “great representation of Creekview High School” at the State Competition stated FBLA adviser Chris Jeffreys.

Not only did the students exceed expectations, Jeffreys was also named the New Adviser of the Year out of all FBLA advisers. Jeffreys has been the adviser of Creekview High School FBLA since 2008 and has continued to improve the organization over time.

The club itself also received four Chapter awards including the 100 Member Club, Membership Achievement Award, 1st place for the March of Dimes Fundraising Award, and the Silver Chapter of the Year.

Jeffreys also added that he was “extremely proud of these students for representing FBLA and Creekview” in such a great way.

The FBLA is a student organization that encourages students to enter the business field. The purpose is to lead students on the business path by participating in service and educational activities to increase leadership abilities. Written by: Brooke Gunsauley

DECA brings home the bacon

DECA, an association of marketing students, recently hosted the DECA Region 1 competition on January 27th at Kennesaw State University. The competitions focused on skills such as marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service. The DECA competition hosted a variety of competitions. Among the competitions, Creekview students were able to stand out and finish well, allowing them to advance on to the state level.

Among the winners were: 1st Place-Logan P (Business Administration), Brett T (Buying and Merchandising), Samantha G (Food Marketing), and Derek T (Entrepreneurship). 2nd place-Amanda F (Quick Service Restaurant Management) and Mary M (Accounting Applications). 3rd place-Meghan G. (Marketing Management), Danielle H (Principles of Hospitality and Tourism), and Zachary D (Hospitality Services). 4th place-Kamela K (Principles of Business Administration and Management), Landon E (Principles of Finance), Zachary P (Retail Merchandising), Tyra M (Hospitality Services), and Rebecca M (Apparel and Accessories Marketing).

During the competition, students took a test or role played or performed a scenario in front of judges and how well they did in those competitions determined their rank. Shelley Gravitt, DECA advisor and marketing instructor, brings DECA to Creekview as she teaches her students to learn the structure of business and marketing by integrating skills from a business into the school store. The school store teaches students the how-to’s of finance, hospitality, and marketing. She states that most of her students are interested in marketing and going into the business world. The DECA competitions are a great example to teach students what it is like to run a business. Mrs. Gravitt states, “The [competitions] are much more competitive and students have to study for that. I’m impressed with our students.”

The winners will qualify to compete at the state competition on February 25-27th in downtown Atlanta at the Marriott Marquis. The top six winners from each state will then have an opportunity to compete at the national level in Orlando, Florida. We wish the winners best of luck as they compete at the state level in February.
Written by: Beatrice Torralba

Future Business Leaders of America Region Competition

The Creekview Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is a strong student organization in the school encouraging students to enter the business field. The club’s purpose is to transition business-minded students into the business path by participating in the yearly region competitions, topics range from technology, business, and public speaking.

During the region competition, Creekview FBLA competed in 54 events placed in the top 10 out of 36 range. In addition, among the 54 events, 18 events qualified Creekview students for the state competition which will be held in March.

The FBLA state qualifiers include: Tommy A (Network Design), Kelly A (Help Desk), Andrew B (Introduction to Technology Concepts), Amanda A (Business Calculations), Samuel H (Intro. to Technology Concepts), Morgan H (Business Communication), Haley H (Marketing and Personal Finance), Sarah M (Business Calculations), Andrea N (Personal Finance), Jessica P (Accounting and Intro. to Technology Concepts), Zach P (Into. to Business Communication), Austin R (Intro. to Technology Concepts), Jonathan R (Business Math and Network Design), and Shay S (Intro. to Business Communication).

Chris Jeffreys, the club sponsor, is very proud that Creekview students constantly want to achieve more and are setting themselves on the right path to success, especially in a business-minded world. Congratulations to all the winners at the region competitions and good luck at state.
Written by: Beatrice Torralba

FBLA Fall Leadership Conference

Creekview’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) recently attended the State Fall FBLA Leadership Conference, held annually at the University of Georgia. During the conference, members participated in small group workshops to build business leadership skills and competed in teams to test their skills. Awards from the team competitions at the Fall Motivational Rally were announced and Creekview’s own seniors, Macy D. and Casie W., finished first in Banking and Personal Finance. Other competitive events included: Public Speaking, Entrepreneurship, Business Ethics, Accounting, Job Interview, Web Site Design, and many more events dealing with different aspects of business. FBLA members were also able to listen to motivational guest speakers lecturing about being successful in the business world. The meeting was open to officers and students from across Georgia who are involved in FBLA.

FBLA members usually attend six conferences a year, starting with the Fall Motivational Rally progressing to Regional and State competitions. The Fall Motivational Rally and the Annual Fall Conference are open to any interested FBLA member. These events are previews to the school year's upcoming competitions and offer combined event team testing to allow students to see which competitive events they will be interested in for future conferences.

FBLA’s motto shown over the FBLA crest is “Service, Education, Progress.” The club is very involved in community service activities. Some include the Adopt-a-Child Foundation around Christmastime and the March of Dimes Campaign.

FBLA can benefit members by providing scholarship opportunities to those interested in pursuing a business career and provides hands-on, real-world business experience. Members can compete to win awards which can help when applying for colleges. Students gain a competitive edge for education and career success.

The club is sponsored by Coach Jeffreys. It meets in room 1310 on the first and last Tuesday of each month. FBLA is very active in the community, holding monthly social events such as the end-of-year banquet, Halloween parties, Christmas parades, and member cookouts.

Members are encouraged to earn Business Achievement Awards (BAA). The BAA’s is a self-directed business and leadership program designed to help students work on leadership skills with a heavy emphasis on integrated classroom projects and education. The program has four distinct levels: Future, Business, Leader, and America. Each level has its own set of qualifications. Levels can be reached by completing a certain set of business-related tasks.

Meetings are run just as an actual business meeting would occur. Topics discussed during the meetings include: current events, social events, and the planning of current community service activities. Another big part of the meetings is working on building business and leadership skills and preparing for competitions.

Creekview’s FBLA is a growing student organization always looking for new members. Anyone can join FBLA during any time of the year, but in order to participate in conferences, the student must be enrolled by certain deadlines. Creekview FBLA has 118 members so far this year, a huge growth from just 22 members its first year.
Written by: Gwen Kirby

Cherokee County Graduation Controversy

On January 20th 2011, The Cherokee County Board of Education had a meeting on behalf of legal issues and objections raised by the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State in regard to the graduation venue at First Baptist Church in Woodstock. The argument raised by the Americans United was that Cherokee County graduation should not be held in a church because it violates their rights as Americans. Arguments raised included, “If it is illegal to have a graduation in a church because you see a cross, then it should be illegal to make a church near a road.” Others expressed concerns stating, “We already sent out invitations to our relatives from other states and I don’t want to have to tell them they cannot come because of lack of seats.”

There were many alternatives in regard to where graduation could be held, some included the Cobb Energy Center and the Georgia Dome but they were not as cheap or space accommodating as the First Baptist Woodstock.

Four brave Creekview students: Lauren P, Torey T, Jessica I, and Danielle T all stood up to speak on the behalf of Creekview’s senior class. The four of the students had great convincing arguments that eventually turned out on their favor. The Board unanimously voted in favor of having graduation in the First Baptist Church in Woodstock

Written by: Trey Ayres

The Snowpocalypse of Georgia, is it over?

It is not often that Georgians get to see some serious snow but just last week, January 10th through the 14th that is just what they saw. The first snowfall came Sunday night and left an average of seven inches on some very anxious Georgian’s lawns. The roads were hidden from view and were for the most part indistinguishable from the regular ground. However, the snow did not come as a surprise, students and teachers alike were already expecting for school to be cancelled at least till Wednesday. Everywhere, people rushed to the stores to stock up on necessities such as bread, milk, eggs, and even barrels of cheese puffs in preparation for the unsafe conditions of the roads. With their barren shelves, Cherokee County’s grocery stores resembled wastelands. To the multitude of Georgians, it appeared they were going to be trapped at home for days.

It turned out that Georgians were right. School ended up being cancelled due to the heavy snowfall, giving students and unexpected break. The snow began to melt away on Thursday, but it was not until Friday that the roads became safe to drive on. Still, it was not quite safe enough for buses to be put back in use yet, so a whole week of school was missed.

The Cherokee County school board was then faced with the task of rescheduling the days missed. The first idea that went around was that students would attend school on Saturdays for awhile, but that was quickly ruled out. Next, the board considered cancelling February break but that seemed unfair and was also dismissed. Then a fair decision was reached: students would attend school on March 17th and 18th which were originally furlough days.

Yet the peril of the roads did not deter those who were determined to get out of their homes (after all four days stuck inside is a long time indeed). Many of the automobiles on the road were SUVs and trucks with four-wheel drive. But Cherokee County officials did make sure to clear the main roads, such as hospital roads, quickly and efficiently.

A snowfall ranging around 7 inches last occurred in the Blizzard of 1993. This snow storm was definitely more pleasant than the Blizzard of 1993, which stretched from Canada to Central America and left 300 dead in the United States. Thankfully this time around the snowfall was not nearly as devastating. The fact that school has been cancelled various times due to snow is astonishing as snow is usually rare in Georgia, even during the winter season.

Written by: Taylor Gates