FBLA and MHSHS partner to help MI students discover passion for business

Emily Kemper | The Chronicle

When younger students have an older mentor by their side, they are encouraged to follow their passions, or find inspiration to pursue a new one. 

Students in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club and Mason High School Honor Society (MHSHS) are teaching fifth and sixth graders at Mason Intermediate (MI) about business to help them find those passions and make a difference in their community. 

Senior Ella Fernandes, vice president of events for FBLA, started the Global Learners program for students at MI to help continue engagement in FBLA after those students attended their state conference, and found support from some students in MHSHS, which she was president of at the time. 

“My main goal was to get the members [of FBLA] more involved,” Fernandes said. “We only have six or seven leadership positions, so I think this program is a great way for members who want to be leaders but didn’t get an official role to still be involved in their community and get the experience they are looking for.” 

Global Learners teaches MI students fundamental skills that can be applied to many careers, such as how to do proper research, through the lens of business. So far, Mason High School (MHS) students have taught the students at MI about different global issues and helped them pick one to focus their project. At the latest meeting, young students learned about different ways to help solve global issues, including physical products, nonprofit organizations and donation drives. 

“We teach the kids about real-world issues and the current solutions, and we help them develop their own solutions using the brainstorming process, searching for reliable sources and teaching them how to market themselves,” Fernandes said. “It’s about finding what they’re passionate about and turning it into an actual idea, like what you would do with a business.” 

FBLA member and treasurer of MHSHS, junior Rahul Velu, said that he liked how two of the clubs he is involved in mixed their focuses and goals to create this program. He said that MHSHS’s leadership skills work well together with FBLA’s problem-solving and marketing-related skills, and he (along with other student leaders) enjoy teaching the combined lessons. 

“MHSHS is run around the theme of leadership and service, and the Global Learners program aligns with those same themes,” said Velu. “It’s blended well together because if [kids] hear about these global issues like world hunger or water pollution at a young age, they’ll feel more inspired to help solve them as they get older.”  

Fernandes said she hopes that this program will help younger Mason students to start making changes in their community and to realize that they do not have to wait until they are older to do so. Fernandes said that growing up, she mostly discovered her interests by herself, but having different mentors helped her to see how far she could take her ideas and that she was capable of making a difference. 

“When I was in fourth grade, I had wanted to start a fundraiser for St. Jude, the cancer research hospital,” Fernandes said. “My ACT teacher, Mrs. Hammond, helped me work through the brainstorming process and helped me go through sources for research. I want the kids [in this program] to find something similar and realize they can make an impact no matter how young.” 

FBLA member, junior Sanvi Jha, said that her passion for business started when she was very young too. She hopes that this program will inspire and inform kids the same way her mother, who works in finance, helped her to cultivate her interest in business. 

“Even when I would watch something like Super Bowl ads, I’d [wonder] how are they marketing this?” said Jha. “I would analyze the discounts at stores and think: why did they do that? Does this make me want to buy it more or less? So I think this [program] is a great way to get kids involved from a younger age, like how I had that passion.” 

Jha said she has really enjoyed her experience working with the students in the Global Learners program so far. She said it is very important for them to learn about issues that affect the world outside of Mason, and thinks that hearing their thoughts on these issues is helping her to grow. Overall, she said her experience has been very positive, and she is glad to have found a way to combine two things she really enjoys. 

“It’s nice to be able to do something I’m passionate about with business, and I love interacting with the kids,” said Jha. “It’s a new perspective that you don’t usually get. They’re so upfront, but they also give you new ideas and ways to look at everything, so that’s something really cool I’m getting from it.”