Huntington High business teacher Alicea Lewis, left, and FBLA team members Cierra King, Jacob Chapman and Ella Lewis pose for a photo in the ƵHilltop Shop,Ƶ a school store the group runs for students and staff to purchase Highlander swag.
State Champion flags earned by the Future Business Leaders of America team at Huntington High at the state leadership conference in March 2024 hang in the school hallway.
Ella Lewis, 2023-24 president of the FBLA team at Huntington High School, reaches for a coffee cup in a business her group designed called "Buddy Brew," which serves coffee to teachers and staff while simulating a work environment to teach students practical business skills.
Students in the business program at Huntington High School launched their own business, "Buddy Brew," to simulate a work environment for other students to learn practical skills and serve coffee to the teachers and staff.
If students or staff are unable to find a design in the "Hilltop Shop" that they like, the students in the business program at Huntington High School can press a custom design onto a t-shirt for them.
Huntington High business teacher Alicea Lewis, left, and FBLA team members Cierra King, Jacob Chapman and Ella Lewis pose for a photo in the ƵHilltop Shop,Ƶ a school store the group runs for students and staff to purchase Highlander swag.
State Champion flags earned by the Future Business Leaders of America team at Huntington High at the state leadership conference in March 2024 hang in the school hallway.
Students in the business program at Huntington High School launched their own business, "Buddy Brew," to simulate a work environment for other students to learn practical skills and serve coffee to the teachers and staff.
HUNTINGTON Ƶ With less than a month left before the national tournament in Orlando, Florida, the Huntington High School Future Business Leaders of America team still has to collect $6,000 of its $30,000 goal to pay for travel and competition expenses.
The 2024 FBLA National Leadership Conference will be the final stop for this yearƵs team, which has trained and competed all year in events focusing on different facets of business like public speaking, marketing, entrepreneurship, management, hospitality and other topics.
ƵHonestly, IƵm excited to just be with the group again. The state leadership conference was such a fun time,Ƶ FBLA president Ella Lewis said. ƵItƵs just exciting to travel with your friends somewhere, especially somewhere different than West Virginia ... Last year, we didnƵt even go to nationals, so itƵs exciting for us to just be able to get on a plane and go this year.Ƶ
The FBLA team started two years ago, sponsored by business teacher Alicea Lewis. Ella Lewis said, when the group started her junior year, there were only about 10 students who were interested, and not all of them competed.
Now, she said the group has more than 40 members.
ƵI started the business pathway my freshman year, and then I took a little break my sophomore year, but I joined it again junior year, and thatƵs when I got the opportunity to join FBLA,Ƶ said Jacob Chapman, who will be the FBLA president for the 2024-25 school year. ƵItƵll look good for a college application, and it really teaches you a lot about business and entrepreneurship, and you can make new friends. And itƵs just a good, competitive setting.Ƶ
Since Alicea Lewis was hired as the business teacher for the ƵBusiness Pathway,Ƶ a program that falls under the career and technology education umbrella, she has tried to bring back some resources the school used to have and turn them into educational opportunities for her students.
If students or staff are unable to find a design in the "Hilltop Shop" that they like, the students in the business program at Huntington High School can press a custom design onto a t-shirt for them.
Aidan Cornue | For The Herald-Dispatch
For example, the FBLA students now run a school store called the ƵHilltop Shop,Ƶ in the former business classroom, for sports teams, clubs and any other student or staff member who wishes to purchase Highlander swag.
She also helped the students set up ƵBuddy BrewƵ in a small room facing the main hallway of the school for teachers to purchase coffee in the morning. Ella Lewis said the coffee stand was paid for through the CTE ƵInventive Idea Grant,Ƶ and was born out of the chapter community service project led by her and two other members to teach students how to use a register and gain insight on a career-simulated classroom and other basic business skills they can use in the real world.
Ella Lewis, 2023-24 president of the FBLA team at Huntington High School, reaches for a coffee cup in a business her group designed called "Buddy Brew," which serves coffee to teachers and staff while simulating a work environment to teach students practical business skills.
Aidan Cornue | For The Herald-Dispatch
Alicea Lewis said the business program and FBLA have been great for the students at Huntington High because it brings all kinds of students with diverse backgrounds together to learn real life skills, forming a kind of ƵwindowƵ to the school.
ƵI think itƵs a really great program, obviously. But I can say that a million times over till IƵm blue in the face,Ƶ Ella Lewis said. ƵKids who are in FBLA are able to prove themselves, that weƵre more than even just a football school or a sports school, that there are different academic and extracurriculars that can strive outside of here.Ƶ
Ella Lewis, along with her two partners, are currently working on compiling information and practicing a presentation about the Buddy Brew business for the national tournament.
Ella Lewis also tested for one of her events at the state tournament, and Chapman took an economics test and presented a business plan with his group for ƵLean Life Adventures,Ƶ which would provide tours throughout West Virginia.
Ella Lewis said through individual, group and chapter projects, 24 students placed, and 18 will move onto nationals.
Since the state competition in March, members of the group have been going door-to-door to businesses trying to ƵsellƵ their cause. So far, Dutch Auto Group has paid for rental cars to send the students to Orlando, GiovanniƵs Pizza donated $1,000 in exchange for some of the students to help plan an event for its 100th anniversary, United Bank donated and the Cabell County Board of Education was able to help.
The students have also led their own fundraisers, like car washes and popsicle sales and are currently in the middle of a shoe drive right now for an organization that Alicea Lewis said should bring in about $1,000 for the over 100 bags of shoes they have collected.
Alicea Lewis said when the students get to Orlando, the team will also be able to go to Universal Studios, which will be closed off for one evening to host the students who attended the national conference. She also hopes to take them to the beach, since she said some of them have never traveled to Florida or even seen the ocean.
Anyone wishing to donate to help the FBLA team at HHS reach their goal can call Alicea Lewis at 304-939-2340 or email her at ajlewis@k12.wv.us or visit the team’s Square link online for donations.
This QR code can be scanned using the camera on a mobile device to donate to the Huntington High School Future Business Leaders of America team.
Courtesy Alicea Lewis
Katelyn Aluise is an education and courts reporter for The Herald-Dispatch.
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