On November 16thand 17th, Tift CountyHigh School's FutureBusiness Leaders ofAmerica traveled toAthens, GA to attendtheir 2016 Fall Leader-ship Conference.Three students fromTCHS Main Campusand five students fromNortheast Campusmade the trip.

The conference be-gan on Wednesday af-ternoon with the open-ing general session andfeatured motivationalspeaker Bill Cordeswho is a former highschool teacher, collegeinstructor, coach, tele-vision talk show hostand a proud father offour children. He haslived his life by themotto “You Only GetOut What You Put In”(YOGOWYPI). He'sbecome known as theYOGOWYPI Guyacross the UnitedStates. He has been

traveling around thecountry for the past 25years working withwell over 2.5 millionpeople of all agesteaching them about

the YOGOWYPI prin-cipal. His presentationwas full of stories fromhis past experiences,humor, audience partic-ipation, life lessons andadvice, and most im-portantly lots of laugh-ter.

“He made us laughand laughter makes the

heart smile,” saidFBLA Adviser MarlaThompson,. “The stu-dents really enjoyedthis speaker. Mr.Cordes helps people

con-nectwithwhotheyareanden-

courages them to havea positive attitude to-ward whole-life suc-cess.” Thompsonadded, “In his messagehe stresses not lettingyour past experiencesaffect your current situ-ation.”

On Day 2 of theConference students at-

tended individualizedLeadership Tracks thatwere tailored to theirinterest, future leader-ship goals, or Regionperformance events fortraining. Throughthese sessions ourmembers learned theskills that they need tobe successful this yearand in the years tocome.

FBLA Chapters

were there from allaround the state. Meet-ing other FBLA stu-dents state wide helpedTCHS members gainedinsight into the worldof business opportuni-ties.

Senior Janya Simsenjoyed her time at theconference, and shefeels that the connec-tions she made are in-valuable. “The experi-

ence overall was awe-some because it al-lowed me to networkwith other FBLA mem-bers from all overGeorgia.”

Senior HannahDum added, “FallLeadership was a veryfun experience. I madenew friends andlearned important les-sons from a great andfunny speaker.”

CYANMAGENTA

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THE TIFTON GAZETTE

BBLUELUE &&The

Volume XXI, Issue 5 Tift County High School December 2, 2016

The Tifton Gazette xxFriday, Dec 2, 2016

Produced by the TCHS Journalism Class:www.tchsspeakofthedevil.org

HITEHITEWW

Business and Technology classes celebrated American Enterprise Day

Tift County High SchoolsFuture Business Leaders ofAmerica (FBLA) celebratedAmerican Enterprise Day onNovember 15th. This day pub-licizes the American EnterpriseSystem and teaches studentsabout entrepreneurship, includ-ing risks, liabilities and respon-sibilities associated with open-ing a small business.

Xavier Holmes, ChristiFletcher and Marla Thomp-son's business classes alongwith several FBLA membersand Mike Beeman's marketingclass attended an assemblywhere several guest speakersdiscussed their entrepreneurialexperiences. The speakerswere Attorney Nathan Johnsonfrom Kelley & Johnson's lawfirm and Beeman TCHS Mar-keting Teacher and Entrepre-neur.

Attorney Johnson spoke tostudents about his educationaljourney. Johnson is a graduateof TiftCountyHigh andearned hislaw degreefrom Mer-cer Univer-sity. Hehighlightedthe require-ments ofbecoming alawyer andshared sev-eral exam-ple caseswith stu-dents.

In addi-tion to hisdiscussion on law practices,Johnson discussed starting asmall business. Johnson ex-

plained the pros and cons ofowning and operating a busi-ness and talked about owning a

law firm. He discussed whathe looks for in an employee,talked about the interviewing

process, shared informationabout the treatment of employ-ees, and touched on the manag-

ing of finances in abusiness. He addedhis main reason forbecoming a lawyerwas to try to help peo-ple and that he reallydoes enjoy doing thaton a daily basis.

Beeman thentalked to the studentsabout his business ex-perience. Before mov-ing to Tifton, Beemanowned a business inNew Hampshirecalled Total Sports.Beeman said that it ishard work owningyour own businessand that he had to

work hard to establish relation-ships with companies. Hishard work however, paid off.

Beeman received deals withbig companies such as Con-verse.

“It was very shocking to re-ceive a phone call from a verypopular shoe company talkingabout a deal,” he said. Beemanalso talked about the ups anddowns of businesses and re-vealed that sometimes “whoyou know is more importantthan what you know.” He did,however, encourage students toset goals and to make the mostout of their educational experi-ences. He advised students totake advantage of every oppor-tunity afforded to them.

At the end of the session thestudents and advisers thankedour guests for taking time outof their busy schedules to sharewith us about their very ownAmerican Enterprise Experi-ence that hopefully will inspirethe youth of today.

FCCLA members attended National Cluster meeting in Orlando, Florida

Family, Career and Community Lead-ers of America (FCCLA) attended the Na-tional Cluster Meeting in Orlando prior tothe Thanksgiving break.

According to Co-Adviser LinseyShockley, Over 1,600 advisers, students,and guests were in attendance, and stu-dents had the opportunity to participate ina variety of workshops and anexhibitor/college expo. She said that theCluster Meetings was a great way to showmembers what FCCLA is all about on thenational level.

Juniors Casey Shirah and Shelby Jonesfrom the TCHS FCCLA participated in theFCCLA Leadership Academy that includ-

ed five classes. The classes focused onleadership skills and included topics suchas “the leader in me,” “leadership essen-tials,” and “becoming a leader.” Uponcompletion of the classes, they were re-warded a Leadership Academy Lapel Pin.

Shirah and Jones also had the opportu-nity to listen to the keynote speakers EddieSlowikowski and Cara Filler. BothSlowikowski and Filler are professionalspeakers who focus on helping studentsunderstand that the choices they make canand will affect their future.

In addition to the guest speakers, Shi-rah and Jones also had the opportunity tomeet the National FCCLA officers. “Theentire conference and trip is an experienceI'll never forget” said Shirah.

Shockley said thatthis was the firstcluster meeting thatthe TCHS FCCLAparticipated in be-cause of the proximi-ty. “And it was lesscostly,” she added.Usually the meetingsTift FCCLA attendare just for Georgiachapters and are heldin Georgia.

In addition to at-tending the meet-ings, students andadvisers, LinseyShockley and Amy Grist, attended several

tourist attractions, including DisneySprings and Universal Studios' City Walk.

Shamiyah WilliamsBlue & White Staff

On Tuesday, several stu-dents at Tift County HighSchool had the opportunityto attend an assembly andlisten to words of wisdomfrom Major Petra Lovetins-ka Seipel.

Invited by Coach IveyVickers, Seipel reiterated thefact that a person's experi-ence and their knowledgeare two things that can neverbe taken away, and she en-couraged students to takeadvantage of all opportuni-ties that come their way.

A competitive swimmerin high school, Seipel wasborn in the Czech Republicand moved to the UnitedStates when she was 11.She spent the first severalyears in the US learning thelanguage and trying to fit in

at school. After graduating high

school, Seipel knew Englishwell and had good grades,so she decidedthat she wantedto join a mili-tary college.Every collegeshe applied fortold her that shewas the perfectcandidate ex-cept for the factthat she didn'thave a citizen-ship.

Seipel didnot let this stopher. In 1996,however, shemade history asone of the firstfour women to gain accept-ance into and attend The

Citadel, a previously all-male school. At first shenever thought she would beable to attend because of fi-

nances, but with the help ofCitadel alumni, she was able

to make her dream cometrue. In fact, she became thefirst female to start as afreshman and make it to hersenior year.

Seipel said that heryears at The Citadel werehard because she seemed tobe one of the main targetsas one of the only femaleson campus. She said, how-ever, that she tried to findthe silver lining in everysituation, and she managedto graduate on time.

Upon graduation, Seipelwanted to join the USMarines, but she still didnot have US citizenship.She became one of the fivepeople in US history to re-ceive her citizenship as aspecial act of Congress.

She shared that honor withMother Theresa, William

Penn, Winston Churchill,and Raoul Wallenberg.

Seipel now works at the lo-gistics command base in Al-bany, Georgia.

Coach Vickers wantedher swimmers to hear aboutSeipel's life because shesays that her swimmer's fa-vorite word is “can't” andthat word has never enteredSeipel's vocabulary. In fact,Seipel swam from Alcatrazto San Francisco in about 40minutes, despite being preg-nant.

I hope that my swimmershave learned something!The next time I tell someonethey have to swim the 500meter race at a meet, I hopethey will say 'yes ma'am,'and not 'I can't,'” said Vick-ers.

Major Petra Seipel, Citadel graduate, shares her story and struggles with students

Major Petra Seipel was one of the first females to attend and grad-uate from The Citadel.

Bryce McDanielBlue & White Staff

Mariah McdowellBlue & White Staff

Adviser Amy Grist, Casey Shirah, Shelby Jones, and Adviser Linsey Shockley at-tended the National Cluster Meeting in Orlando.

FBLA attended annual Fall Conference

Several FBLA members traveled to Athens to attend the annualFBLA Fall conference.