Karim Salahie (‘26)
Students at SBHS are always striving to help improve different aspects of our community. In the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club, members have undertaken initiatives to make an impact by educating the community and making donations to organizations that care for those in need.
For their mission, juniors Nishita Katare, Srihita Nuthalapati, and Jagath Sathi held collection drives that they used to donate for two initiatives: Project Beauty & Basics and Whiskers for Wishes.
Project Beauty & Basics is an initiative for the FBLA state competition that donates various hygienic products, such as makeup and toiletries, to homeless shelters. In the donation drive they held for the project, the students collected 297 items for Project Beauty & Basics alone. The items were donated to the organization Garden State Home, which provides housing, case management, and life skills training across New Jersey to the homeless youth to empower them and help them create a future for themselves.
On the impact of this initiative, Katare said, “Hygiene products are something that is often overlooked by homeless shelters, and proper hygiene can help homeless individuals become employed by appearing more presentable and professional.”
They also chose to do Whiskers for Wishes as a state initiative. The group was able to collect and donate 143 items that were in high demand for sheltered animals, such as food, toys, trash bags, and litter. After conducting surveys at their meetings, they decided to donate to the local animal shelter SAVE. This shelter rescues and protects stray animals, caring for them until they are adopted by people who can provide a home and love. The students’ donations will allow the shelter to support more animals that need to be cared for through the increase in supplies.
Overall, the students collected a total of 440 items. Through donating, they played a part in changing the future of the homeless youth for the better as well as in improving the quality of care at our local animal shelter.
Juniors Sanuli Abeydeera, Tanisha Kinikar, and Megha Kumar assumed the American Enterprise Project (AEP), where students must educate their community on financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and the economy. Their first initiative was a social media campaign including two different series: Small Business Saturdays and Mastery Mondays.
On Small Business Saturdays, the AEP committee would spotlight a small business each Saturday, ranging from jewelry stores to bookshops. Mastery Mondays focused on different topics each month, including Financial Literacy, Marketing, and Business Ethics.
The members also made impacts in person within a senior center and middle school.
The middle school team planned a lesson on financial literacy, as well as a Shark Tank project to let the students showcase their entrepreneurial skills. The senior center team presented a scam awareness presentation, as the elderly are one of the most susceptible groups to online scams.
Abeydeera said, “When we had initially polled students on their knowledge of American Enterprise, a common theme was that students may have known of general concepts but not specific details pertaining to them. But not a single student had heard of American Enterprise in middle school. That inspired us to get in touch with our local middle school chapter and teach a few lessons on the basics of American Enterprise.”
AEP also conducted webinars and interviews with financial educators. One of which was with Tirusha Dave, founder of Ellies Academy, a childcare center that educates children up to 5 years of age. This initiative was a partnership with the nonprofit Dear Asian Youth. They toured her facility and asked about her experience as an Asian Woman and entrepreneur.
They also interviewed Peter Trafficante, an auditor at Deloitte—one of the top accounting firms in the nation. Mr. Traficante taught a lesson specifically on American Enterprise, giving advice to the students as well as having a Q&A session on his career and entrepreneurship.
Kumar said, “Not only did interviewing these business leaders give us more insight on entrepreneurship and financial responsibility as students, but it gave us more to talk about in our American Enterprise lessons for the community as teachers.”
The FBLA students’ efforts demonstrate a strong commitment to make a positive impact on the people around them. They go out of their way to learn and educate within the community to make a large difference step by step.
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