Grant County high schoolers lead the way in business group

Members of Grant Union High School’s Future Business Leaders of America group will be headed to the national competition after placing at the state level. In addition, Maddie Bailey, a sophomore, will now lead Oregon’s statewide FBLA. We talk to Bailey, and another member of the group, Morgan Walker, about what these successes mean for Grant County students, and what experience they’ve gained from the club.

This transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. We’re coming to you today and all this week from Grant County in Eastern Oregon. We are in Canyon City, the county seat just past the city line with John Day. That city got its name from the John Day River which flows on the north side of town. The river in turn got its name from a hapless Virginia hunter. We’re gonna hear more about him at the end of the show today, but we start right now with two sophomores from Grant Union High School --  which is just outside the window across the football field. They are members of the Future Business Leaders of America and they are headed to the National Competition in Atlanta next month after placing at the state level. Plus Maddie Bailey is going to lead Oregon’s statewide FBLA. Maddie Bailey and Morgan Walker, thanks very much for joining us.

Maddie Bailey / Morgan Walker: Yeah. Thanks for having us.

Miller: So Maddie first, for those of people who aren’t that familiar with it. What is FBLA?

Bailey: Yeah, of course. It’s a career technical student organization that’s co-curricular and helps build community minded business leaders within our global society.

Miller: Community-minded business leaders in a global society. So what do you actually do?

Bailey: As president?

Miller: We’ll get to that, but that’s a newish thing. But, just as a member of the group, what do you do?

Bailey: Yeah, of course. So the whole point of it is obviously to build business leaders. So there’s competitions within it that help you grow. But even before that, as a chapter, you do a lot of fundraising. A lot of just like, building yourselves up so that you can compete at those competitions. And then you choose your events, you compete at Regionals. and after that you keep going on to State and then Nationals.

Miller: Morgan, why did you want to be in FBLA?

Walker: Well, I wanted to grow my business skills and get more confidence in myself. Talking to people face to face and just building the confidence. It’s helped me a lot throughout FBLA and talking in front of people. I’ve prepared speeches and I’ve given them confidently in front of crowds and judges.

Miller: You do seem pretty calm right now. Talking in an interview setting like this, would [it] have been different before you had taken part in FBLA?

Walker: Yeah, I couldn’t make eye contact. I’d be looking at my hands. I’d be fiddling. I couldn’t talk to people professionally, face to face. So it’s really helped me build my confidence in talking with people.

Miller: How is that? How has that happened? What have you done that’s given you more confidence, just to be a person in public?

Walker: Well, presenting in front of the school board and the cities for sponsorships and donations. I’ve grown as a person, talking in front of people and it’s practice basically in FBLA for presenting in front of the judges. They look at you, you’re the only one in the room, and it’s a little scary but you get through it. Your words start coming out and they start flowing and it’s a great experience.

Miller: Maddie, can you give us a sense for the projects that you have worked on this year?

Bailey: Within our chapter?

Miller: Yeah.

Bailey: So, to start, our biggest thing was fundraising, because we’re pretty student led. So the point was... we need to get ourselves to Regionals and State. Everything has a cost, right? So we did a lot of 50-50 raffles at volleyball games and then like Morgan said, a lot of sponsorship requests and then we did chapter meetings.

Miller: And when you say a ‘sponsorship request.’ It’s you or other members of the group going to some business owner and saying, ‘Hey, can you please give us 300 bucks?’

Bailey: Yeah. We put together packets and then just gave them out and then talked to him about what we’re all about. We also did that with the City Council. So our school is. . . most kids from Mount Vernon, Canyon City, and John Day, all come to here. So we went to each of those cities and presented, basically saying, ‘This is what we are, this is what we need help with this year.’

Miller: I understand that both of you worked on the graphic design competition. Was that at the Regional or the State level?

Bailey: It was at the Regional and State level.

Miller: So what was that like? What did that work entail?

Bailey: We were a group but it was a team project. We competed together. I designed it, Morgan helped me present. For me, the biggest thing was I got my prompt at the beginning of the year and just began putting together my ideas for this fictional nonprofit that they told me to create. So I created a logo and then we began. We printed on our school graphics printer and we printed t-shirts and things that were with our logo so we could present at the State level with those.

Miller: Morgan, you competed in the mobile app development event at the State event. What did you work on?

Walker: Basically, I created an app for [the] Grant Union School System. So it includes news feeds, lunch menus, and our policies and athletic schedules, which is really helpful because they’re constantly changing, with games being canceled and meets being rescheduled. So it’s an app that’s all things Grant Union and it really is easy and accessible compared to our website.

Miller: And is that something that students here can actually use now?

Walker: I’m in the process of getting it published in Apple. The thing is you have to be 18 and older and it has to be through a company. So it has to be Grant Union School who actually has to publish it. So we’re working on that right now and it should be out eventually.

Miller: But if all goes well, say next school year, your classmates can actually, or their parents can actually use this app that you created to stay up with information about the school.

Walker: Yes, that is correct.

Miller: Maddie, my understanding is that no one from Grant County has led the Oregon Chapter of FBLA before. What did it take to become president?

Bailey: I guess the biggest thing at first was it was just a leap of confidence because you have to fill out this application online and then it’s a long process. Then you just submit yourself and you’re just waiting. Then once you get to the State Conference, you have to give a speech in front of all of the members there. And the next day, you have to have this big campaign booth all day and just really throw yourself out there just saying, ‘Hi, this is who I am and this is what I believe in and why I want to lead.’

Miller: What did you say? I mean, you don’t have to give us the whole speech. But, what do you believe in? And what was your pitch for why you should lead the organization?

Bailey: The biggest thing that my platform ran off of was just connecting better. So as state president, I want to connect to like every member if I can. Just reach out and make sure... we want to hear from them and that was a huge thing for me. Especially because I felt like as a small school, we were underrepresented at the state level. So, my biggest goal was I wanna talk to everyone and just know what their thoughts are.

Miller: Do you think that this group has a different level of importance in a rural community in a pretty small city than it might say in the Portland area?

Bailey: Yeah, for sure. I mean, almost all of my friends’ parents are business owners. That’s how you live here, is by owning the coffee shop or even a lot of people are in the agricultural market and even though it might not seem like it, business are so involved in every part of that.

Miller: I should say you’re both about to finish your sophomore year. So you’ve got tons of years ahead of you, maybe before you need to think definitively about your careers and your future. But Morgan, first – has working with FBLA affected the way you think about your possible career?

Walker: Yeah. So when I started high school, I knew that I wanted to be a marine biologist. But as I’ve gone through the years with FBLA, I’ve also considered doing business and going into being a lawyer because I’ve always taken those online tests and they say, ‘Oh, you should be a lawyer… that’s the way you sound, like a good lawyer.’ I’ve honestly considered it. Because they do fight for what they think is right and for their client and it sounds like such a fun job and I really, honestly, considered going into being a lawyer.

Miller: And marine biologist.

Walker: Yeah, I don’t know which one yet.

Miller:  Well, you have time. Maddie. What about you? I mean, has working… both doing the projects you’ve done and moving up into leadership for FBLA, has it affected the way you think about your future?

Bailey: Yeah, for sure. So I’m not positive what I want to go into but it’s definitely opened up a ton of new doors for me. Just seeing, ‘Hey, this is a possibility,’ and even especially with leadership, I love leading. I love putting my ideas out and sharing them with my FBLA state officer team. So those things, in that category, have definitely become more open to me.

Miller: When you think about your futures, are you in John Day?

Bailey / Walker: No, no. [Laughing]

Miller: Why not?

Bailey: I definitely want to live somewhere bigger. Just more opportunities I think.

Walker: Yeah, if I do want to be a marine biologist, I need to go somewhere where there’s an ocean.

Miller: Fair point. But so Maddie, when you said you want to go somewhere bigger, I mean, what do you imagine life would be like here for you as an adult?

Bailey: Here?

Miller: Yeah, in John Day.

Bailey: Like... I dunno…

Miller: Because, I should say, when I asked that question, you both looked at each other and shook your head…

[Bailey and Walker both giggling]

Miller: …and then [the] answer like, it was clear to you that you both aim to leave and it may be that you don’t assume you’re gonna come back.

Bailey: I mean, for family, I’ll always come back. But other than that, yeah, there’s just not a ton for me here.

Miller: As I noted, in about a month, you’re gonna be going with members of your group to the national competition in Atlanta. Have you raised all the money you need to actually make this trip happen?

Bailey: Not quite, but we’re definitely getting closer. So there’s an FBLA Scholarship. Morgan received a $500 scholarship plus her registration is paid. So that’s a huge burden lifted. Then, as a state officer, I received that same benefit. But the school also gave us a lot of money from some different programs that weren’t fully utilized this year. We did receive sponsorships from all three of those cities that we went and talked to. So that was also really helpful.

Miller: So those speeches worked,...

Bailey / Walker: Yeah.

Miller: You said give us money and they said, ‘Yes.’

Bailey: Basically, yes.

Miller: Maddie and Morgan, thanks so much.  Congratulations.

Bailey / Walker: Thank you.

Miller: Maddie Bailey and Morgan Walker are sophomores at Grant Union High School, members of the Future Business Leaders of America. Maddie Bailey is the Oregon president of the statewide group.

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