Bridgeport FBLA participants have busy week at national conference

Three Bridgeport High School students and their advisor took in all the sights of Atlanta, Georgia and even had time to attend the national Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) conference.

The convention actually started on Thursday, June 26 but Arely Garza, Danyelle Cavadini and Danielle Medina, along with advisor Nancy Fisher, went to Atlanta on Monday, June 23. Atlanta is a frequent destination for conferences; there's a lot to do around town, Fisher said, and an efficient public transportation system (although it's a little scary at 10:30 p.m. when three teenagers and their chaperone are just in from the airport). The subways go by the local moniker of Marta; Marta provided transportation to the Six Flags amusement park on Tuesday, packed with lots of rides, especially roller coasters. There were enough rides for an entire day of fun, Fisher said, ending with dinner at the hard Rock Café.

The group's second day was spent looking around Atlanta and attending an Atlanta Braves game. The Braves opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a cheering section made up of Wisconsin FBLA students but alas, the Braves won the game.

Arely Garza is a 2008 state officer, and their work started Thursday morning; in addition, all Washington chapters participated in the state delegation meeting. The official opening session was held that evening. "For four country girls from Washington, seeing 7,000 teenagers and their chaperones all dressed in business clothes together was pretty amazing," Fisher wrote. The rumor on the floor was that the 2008 conference might have set a new attendance record.

Between the meetings and the opening session the Bridgeport crew took Marta to the CNN broadcasting center; Danielle Medina is thinking about a broadcasting career so she was especially interested, Fisher said. The crew also went to the Georgia Aquarium, which was "pretty cool (with cool being the operative word)," Fisher wrote.

The Bridgeport crew concentrated on the conference on its second day, on site at the Marriott Hotel for 10-plus hours. The FBLA members attended workshops and competitions-Arely had qualified for national competition but she didn't place, Fisher said. "But we didn't feel bad because just qualifying and going was pretty awesome to us." The next day "we slept in," Fisher said. The crew had attended a number of workshops on Friday and had no required events so "we decided to play hooky," Fisher said. They toured Olympic Park, site of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the Coca-Cola world headquarters and museum. "We tried to taste all 96 flavors in their tasting room (some are pretty rotten)," Fisher wrote. Of course the teens got in some shopping, she said.

That evening they attended a performance of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma at the Liberty Theater. "That wasn't planned but I ran into an advisor from Mississippi who was going, and she told me they still had tickets available. The girls loved it and it's my favorite musical."

Sunday was the conference's last day; "are you tired yet? I was," Fisher wrote. Danyelle, Danielle and Arely joined the other Washington delegates for the state picture and the voting for national officers, visited with all the friends they had made during the conference. The closing session stretched into Sunday evening, so the Bridgeport contingent waited until Monday to come home.