Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

PHS Student Jarrod Yates Elected State FBLA President

Jarrod W. Yates, a junior at Prescott High School, was elected state president of the Arkansas Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) April 18 in Little Rock during the state convention.

He is the son of Mike and Cindy Yates of Prescott.

Yates has been involved in FBLA for three years. He has served as the local chapter president for two years, District IV treasurer in 1996-97, and District IV state vice president in 1997-98.

The experience Yates has gained from these offices and through his dedication has given him a strong background in FBLA, according to Carie Maroon, the FBLA advisor at Prescott High.

Preparation for the presidential campaign took hard work and effort by Yates, campaign manager Lindsay Franks and many PHS students, as well as Maroon.

A pirate's 'treasure' theme was chosen as the basis of the campaign. Letters were mailed prior to the convention to every school in the state that currently has an active FBLA chapter.

The convention was held two days, April 17 and 18.

In other preparations for the campaign, a booth had to be planned and constructed. The booth setting was a pirate's cove and featured a pirate ship with palm trees on both sides. A large treasure chest was filed with beads, play money and gold coins.

On the campaign table was a small treasure chest filled with bubble gum coins, eye patches, and beaded necklaces which were given to FBLA delegates, who attended the state conference.

Campaign literature was handed to members and advisers as they visited the booth.

A caucus was held following the closing of campaign booths on Friday evening.

Yates, along with the other three presidential candidates, was asked a series of questions by the voting delegates.

At the first general session Friday night, each of the candidates gave a two minute speech. Yates included in his speech five challenges for local and district FBLA chapters.

His main focus in his speech was to increase FBLA professional membership and to initiate a "shadow program" for FBLA students. The shadow program will allow FBLA members to experience more about today's business world.

The voting delegates voted Saturday morning before the second general session. The election results were announced during the second general session which resulted in a run-off between Yates and a Bruno-Pyatt student.

Yates won the run-off election, becoming Prescott High School's second FBLA state president in this decade.

"Being elected FBLA state president is an honor to me and to PHS," Yates said. "This office will be challenging, yet rewarding experience. I would like to thank my supporters who made the campaign possible and a success."

Yates' responsibilities include attending the officers' training workshop at Ferndale in June, the national leadership conference at Orlando, Fla., in July, and the national fall leadership conference at Birmingham, Ala., in November.