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