The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) had their first official meeting of the school year on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 6:50 a.m. They discussed t-shirt designs, and upcoming events the club would be participating in,  such as the upcoming  trip to New York City the club takes every year.

The club has several events planned for the year, including the fall leadership conference, taking place at Kokomo Joe’s on Oct. 23.

“We listen to someone for like an hour, then we play games and eat lots of food,” Ean Thielbar, a member of FBLA said.

FBLA is also planning some new events for the 2013-14 school year, including a second leadership conference, as well as heading to Busch Stadium on Sept. 25 to attend the college and career fair that is being held. The club members will attend the Cardinal’s game afterwards.

It’s  become a goal for FBLA to start working to interacting with other FBLA clubs from other schools as well. This year, the club is preparing a kickball event for Oct. 25, where they will compete against Howell and Central’s FBLA club members.

“I’m excited about the kickball tournament because it’s the first time we really get to interact with Howell and Central’s FBLA,” Autumn Lavezzi, FBLA President said.

About 46 people attended the meeting on Thursday. Lavezzi and FBLA’s joint secretary and historian, Clayton Kohler,  are hoping to keep these 46 people and make them all official members.

“I felt very excited because we had a large group of young FBLAers,” Kohler said. “We had a lot of new people, and it was really cool to see that many people coming out and actually wanting to be a part of FBLA.”