The Future Business Leaders of America are hard at work at Lamar High School. Membership has grown to 54 members this year, and has begun the 2004-2005 school year with some already successful fundraisers and activities.

This year, Nathan Strycker is the head coordinator, as he is an avid student of business. With a business background in college, Strycker is well prepared to accept the duties that will be demanded of him in the future.

Leading FBLA this year are the four chapter officers: seniors Valerie Medina, Janet West and Melissa Montgomery and junior Yazmine Dowen.

FBLA started the year by selling glow sticks and the now-famous “thunder sticks” at football games. These amenities provided for some rather flabbergasted faces among the people in the crowd at the games.

Also, they have recently completed selling candy door-to-door in order to raise money for the banquet at the end of the year. Members were required to sell at least $75 worth of candy to earn an invitation to the annual banquet.

The member who sells the most wins a $50 reward or a trip to Vail, Colo., for the state leadership conference. This year’s top seller was sophomore Perrie Chen. Chen sold $545.50 worth of candy. The group as a whole sold $6,805 in just over a week.

Oct. 22 was the club’s annual Halloween lock-in that started at 9 p.m. and ended at 7 a.m. the following morning. Several students came decked out in costumes that set the tone for a fun night. Activities at the lock-in included: karaoke, volleyball, video games, movies, listening to music, scooter races and pigging out on junk food and pizza.

“The lock-in was so much fun! I had a blast!” said Tiffany Sellers, a junior member of the FBLA chapter.

The year is looking bright for the Future Business Leaders of America, as they are planning to do some more fundraisers as well as another lock-in and other fun activities leading up to some competitions later in the year.