FBLA does it again! Wins $10,000 Visit to Halo studio also a hit

Odessa HS FBLA has been selected as one of only five teams in the nation to win the Lead2Feed Challenge and $10,000 for their charity! FBLA members completed the Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program and submitted their project "A New View," which captured their work with Odessa senior citizens.

According to a press release from the Lead2Feed Student Leadership Program based in Newark, Del., "38 middle and high school teams have been selected as winners of the seventh annual Lead2Feed Challenge. The top 5 teams have each earned a $10,000 grant for their team's nonprofit of choice. Through Lead2Feed lessons, the service projects are developing as part of the Lead2Feed2Feed Student Leadership Program. Lead2Feed is the nation's leading and fast growing privately funded student leadership program. More than 1.5 million students across all 50 states have had the opportunity to grow as leaders through Lead2Feed's free curriculum."

The Odessa High School FBLA chapter implemented a campaign to replace all of their town hall's windows, providing senior citizen in their community a safe place to gather, socialize and stay active. Students exceeded their goal by hosting a variety of events and seeking "window sponsors." The most valuable lessons learned by students were to be fearless leaders, set big goals, and be confident communicators," teacher Terri King said.

Back home in Odessa following the State Leadership Conference in Bellevue two weeks ago at which the Odessa FBLA students participated so effectively, King had some thoughts to add on their experiences on the west side.

After touring the University of Washington campus and having tree branches fall on their group as reported in last week's paper, most of the students traveled to Redmond and met up with King's brother Bob Bostwick.

While some went to urgent care for treatment of minor injuries, the remainder of the group went to Microsoft's Halo Studio at 343 to learn more about the video game industry. Students were allowed to test the latest version of Halo, tour a museum on the history of the video game and meet with professional game developers. Bostwick received the following feedback from his director:

"Hi Bob,

We're so glad to hear that no one received any major injuries and were able to continue forward with their competition. It was really our pleasure to host such an amazing group of kids! They exhibited such genuine enthusiasm, respect and interest during their day at the studio. The questions they asked, and the way they engaged with the our devs was probably my favorite moment. You could clearly see them eager to learn more about the game industry, and what we do here at 343. I can't even begin to get started on just how excited they were when they entered our playtest lab. That was definitely another highlight for us all. They worked well together and celebrated each other in such an affirmative manner.

Thank you for sharing the experiences they were able to take with them. It means a lot to everyone here when we're able to make positive impacts on any scale, especially when it comes to future generations. Each one of them truly possesses an unlimited potential to do something great and, if we were able to help shed some light on how that might manifest in the professional world, we're happy that we could provide that nugget of truth. Lastly, we wanted to personally thank you, Bob, for connecting us to this opportunity to inspire. From our studio to the Future Business Leaders of America at Odessa High School:

'Living in the past is a luxury none of us can afford.

We must learn from it, but we cannot live there.

It is impossible to plan for the [now]--the present is ever fleeting.

[The future] is where we must live--[the future] is what we must plan for."

-Filial Devotion, Forerunner soldier to his Father (Communication via Halo Terminal; Halo 3)'"