Almost 1,500 high school students will converge on Tucker Coliseum on the Arkansas Tech campus  today for the District V Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Fall Leadership Conference.

The FBLA is a national vocational student organization for students in high schools and middle schools who are interested in business or business education careers.  Learn more about FBLA.

Dr. Linda Bean, associate professor of business, helped coordinate the conference and says it’s run by the FBLA officers.  She adds, “This conference gives the students the chance to develop their leadership skills by leading the entire conference.”

While at Arkansas Tech, the students will hear from Peggy Wakefield, state adviser for the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education, and the students attending will also learn about several FBLA service projects.

The keynote address during the conference will be from motivational speaker Scott Backovich.  At the age of 20, Backovich began traveling across the country and speaking to teens.  According to his website, his “humorous style and uncanny ability to connect have left thousands of teens energized and excited to create positive changes in the lives of themselves, their peers and their communities.”

As part of the conference, each chapter will submit a possible cover design for the spring competition program.  Bean says Arkansas Tech students will serve as the judges to determine the best cover.  She adds, “This will give several of our business students experience working with FBLA chapters before they graduate.”

Be sure to log back on to arkansastechnews.com to see photos from the conference.