The Dulaney High School chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) were well represented at the FBLA National Conference in Atlanta earlier this month. In all, 51 Baltimore County Public School students were in attendance.
Cockeysville resident Patrick Holt, the business department chair at Dulaney, led the large contingent of Dulaney students to the conference, along with his wife, Rebecca Holt, an English teacher at Cockeysville Middle School. Congratulations go out to Mr. Holt, as he received a special and well-deserved honor at the convention when he was named the Outstanding Advisor for Maryland. The Dulaney chapter has more than 100 members and is always very successful on the regional and national levels.
Dulaney students are also well represented among the FBLA leadership, with rising senior, Sophie Sun, serving as the state president. She is joined by Luke Sturiale, also a rising senior, who is the regional vice president for the Baltimore area. Sofia Encarnacion, a rising junior at Dulaney, is the state parliamentarian for the Maryland FBLA. At the conferences, the students competed in more than 60 events that showcase business knowledge and skills in such areas as public speaking, technology, finance, marketing and management. All of the students involved with the FBLA have found it to be an invaluable experience providing terrific opportunities for innovation, leadership and real-world understanding of the business community.
The Youth Group at the Catholic Community of Saint Francis Xavier, in Hunt Valley, has been hard at work this summer and several members are just back from volunteering with the Baltimore Appalachia Work Camp. The camp is a combined effort of parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and parishes in Diocese of Wheeling/Charleston, W. Va., to help those in need in urban and rural settings. The partnership began in 1989 after devastating flooding hit portions of West Virginia, which launched an annual summer home repair program.
A dozen parishes and schools in the Baltimore area participate in the program, which aims to benefit those who are experiencing poverty here in Baltimore as well as in Preston, West Virginia. From St Francis Xavier, Maria Gaspari, Carl Neely, Colleen Neely, Maura Neely, Nan Neely and Michael Young worked alongside other youth and adults in West Virginia on several renovation and repair projects and the building of a ramp for disabled persons. Sasha Howard, Max Kantz, Clay McComas, Will Paranzino, Brady Sack, Michael Sack, Kathy Sack and Nathaniel Valencia participated in Baltimore-area work camps. Other area churches that contributed volunteers included St Joseph's Cockeysville, Our Lady of Grace, St. Pius X and Sacred Heart Glyndon.