Fleetwood FBLA students Ethan Miller, Duncan Cahalan and Daniel Shomper presented the Northeast Berks Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lori Donofrio-Galley with an award for the Chamber’s outstanding partnership through the course of the FBLA Partnership With Business Project.
“You have been very helpful,” they said during the presentation. “Your advice has been very crucial to our project.”
The FBLA used fundraised money to purchase a plaque to present to the chamber.
Graciously accepting the plaque, Donofrio-Galley thanked them for their recognition.
“They’re professional, courteous and organized,” Donofrio-Galley said about the FBLA members.
Miller told The Patriot that the project began in May when he, Cahalan and Shomper decided they wanted to take on the project. They partnered with the Chamber and used businesses within the Chamber to host a Career Day at Fleetwood High School on Friday, Oct. 2. The day began at 8 a.m. with an hour-long free breakfast for the 25 participating businesses, followed by Career Day at 9 a.m.
“Fifteen businesses were placed in the English hallway classrooms to give presentations to students who had previously filled out a survey to help us distinguish where we should send each student based on their interests,” said Miller. “The 10 other businesses were stationed in the auxiliary gym and held stands to promote their business and give students a more one-on-one experience with them. The two other stations consisted of a refreshment period and a resume builder in the auditorium run by another group of students.”
Each rotation lasted 20 minutes with five minutes of moving time in between. The day concluded at 10:50 a.m. Fleetwood had a half day of school.
“The Chamber greatly helped us with providing the businesses and being an outstanding partner at every turn of the project. They were just as excited about the project as we were in that it fit perfectly into their October Business Education Month,” said Miller. “We returned the favor on Friday, Nov. 7, by sending eight FBLA members to the Chamber office and the Kutztown Community Library, so 16 in total, to help with various activities.”
At the Library, members assisted in checking off donations, creating mailings, mapping out the foundation of the building, moving holiday themed books in and putting them on display, and other various activities. At the Chamber, members assisted in cleaning out the vault, organizing the contact list, and other various organizational activities, he said.
“Presenting the award to Lori was the last part of our project where we partnered with the Chamber,” he said. “We do expect to join the chamber in the upcoming weeks as a non-profit organization as Fleetwood FBLA.”