Beaver Area High School’s Future Business Leaders of America are competing in the Lead4Change program. The competition challenges students to design and implement a service project that will improve their school.
Beaver Area’s FBLA chapter has decided to use this project to create a mural calling attention to mental health issues.
Mrs. Lori Guandolo, who has sponsored FBLA for the past five years, shared information regarding the competition.
“Lead4Change is a free student leadership program. The lessons in Lead4Change align with the goals of the FBLA: to develop competent, aggressive business leaders, to strengthen the confidence of students in themselves and their work, and to encourage members in the development of projects that contribute to the improvement of home, business, and community.”
This is not the first time Beaver Area’s FBLA has competed in a Lead4Change competition.
“Last year’s FBLA class began the competition but had to withdraw from it because of COVID-19 and the move to virtual asynchronous learning,” explained Mrs. Guandolo.
Mrs. Guandolo also explained why mental health was chosen: “The FBLA members were asked to come up with issues facing their school or community. After a lengthy discussion. They agreed that bringing awareness to mental health issues would have the biggest impact.”
The mural will mainly be painted by sophomore FBLA member Sarah Foltz with assistance from the other FBLA members.
“In one of the first Lead4Change lessons, students are asked to identify their strengths and what they could bring to the team. Once the other members learned that Sarah is a talented artist, it just made sense to create a visible display to bring awareness to mental health.”
The prize for the winning team is a $10,000 grant to the organization of the team’s choice. Runners up receive $500 each. Should Beaver Area’s FBLA team win, they will most likely donate to Nicolina’s Wishes.
As for the mural’s design? It’s a surprise! (But we do know that the mural is planned for the wall at the foot of the stairs outside the video studio.)
Good luck to the FBLA in this year’s competition!