Rose Bud AR Business Club wins

Rose Bud, AR business club wins first place in nation: Library project wins for future business leaders

Rose Bud senior Joshua Felice said he wants to be a politician.

"I want to be a voice for the people," he said. "I want to accomplish something - to get something done."

He is off to a good start, as a part of the Rose Bud High School Future Business Leaders of America which recently claimed a first place finish in community service at the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Denver, Colo.

The organization's 2003-04 project, to build a community library, was recognized as the best in the nation among its peers.

Rose Bud students William Baker and Jessica Leach were awarded an eighth place finish in desktop publishing at the national competition.

Riverview student Ross Hopper took seventh in multimedia presentation, an event in which Bald Knob FBLA members Brett Black, Lindsey Cox and Ashley Middleton took ninth place.

The Rose Bud program, which has collected about $8,000 to date, continues to grow as it plans more fundraisers. The program recently received a $1,000 grant from the First Electric Cooperative of Heber Springs.

"It coming to life," senior Merideth McGahhey said. "It is actually happening. It is not 'in the process.' It's not 'going to happen.' It is happening."

Felice and McGahhey were not part of the three-person contingent who attended the national conference, but FBLA Advisor Glenda Hayes said they and their fellow club members all contributed to the first place finish.

"We knew we had a good project," she said. "We knew we had a good chance, but you never know."

The project started in May of 2003, just before the students left for summer break. A presentation made for the FBLA competition explains that the idea came up as the club talked about literacy as a project.

The closest public library to Rose Bud School District is about 30 minutes away, in Searcy. That distance provided an obstacle for residents.

"We wanted a place where we can go and actually look up something," McGahhey said. "We have to go somewhere else to find the information we have to look up."

And she said it would help the community as well.

"People could look up information or they could just go to read books because they enjoy it," McGahhey said. "People would benefit from it."

Felice agreed.

"Rather than traveling half an hour or more, it is in local reach, so they are more likely to go to it," Felice said.

The idea gained steam as the month of May moved on, with project chairperson Valerie Sherwood and Hayes meeting with Rose Bud Mayor Joe McBroom. The project was approved by the city council shortly thereafter.

Later in the month, the White County Regional Library Board confirmed it could provide resources if the city could provide land and the building for the library. A committee of local residents was formed to help the students with the project.

When the students returned to school, they began work on fundraising ideas, the most popular of which was a haunted house in the school district's old high school gymnasium's basement.

That was what 11th grader Cameron Lester's ear. Lester would go on to be what some called the haunted house's "director."

He said the reason he got involved was so he could help with the haunted house and seemed especially pleased that three parents donated chainsaws for use in the house.

"We wanted to give people their money's worth," Lester said. "I think everybody did a pretty good job, considering the space we had to use."

He said the experience will make this year's haunted house even better. If it is, the club could raise another $2,000 for the library.

Other fundraisers included letter writing campaigns to businesses, carnation sales at Valentine's Day and a penny drive in which they rolled 100,000 pennies. With donations from local civic clubs, the group has raised about $8,000.

Hayes said the club plans to continue raising money for the project, even though it will not use the library as this year's community service entry.

"We'll still help the community, but as far as our project it can only be one year," Hayes said.

She said the club does not know what it will do for this year's project.

For McGahhey, the national win was a sign that other people recognized the project's importance.

And Rose Bud School Superintendent Jeff Williams agreed.

"The kids really worked hard on that program and I think the judges at the national convention saw the work that they put into it," he said.

But the students' commitment to the project is the most interesting part of the whole enterprise to McBroom.

"This group of kids are going to stick around and stay in touch with this project to see that it gets done," he said. "They have already started talking about doing another haunted house this year."

Hayes said the club's members have said they plan to live in the community for the rest of their lives and want to make it a better place.

"They are very interested in the community," she said, then added that Sherwood was glad to do something for Rose Bud. Sherwood, now studying physical therapy at the University of Central Arkansas, told Hayes she wants to return to the city.

"I told her 'You know this will take a while to get going?'" Hayes recalled. "And she said 'Well, I want it to be there for my children and I want to do it for my brothers and sisters.'"