Wow has it been almost a quarter of a year since I last posted? It's been far too long. Not much has changed though, as far as my current advertising situation. I'm still taking my marketing/ E-commerce course as a junior in high school, and I'm still loving it. Anyway, three major (or perhaps in other views, minor) events have hopefully boosted my potential career as a businessman.

1)My school is taking part in a contest, hosted by a local marketing business (I'll leave out the name to avoid potential monetary issues), to design, create and market a new idea or product. Only six students could be used by each high school, and I was picked due to "My ability to think outside of the box'" as far as advertising. My marketing teacher has said that one of the judges seems extremely interested in applications for phones or other electronic devices. Since then I've found out that pretty much everything has already been thought of and patented, but I haven't lost hope. I've since drawn up (unprofessionally) some ideas, but found out that getting a patent is very technical and complicated. (Possible business idea...Streamline the patent system, to allow for everyone to develop ideas, which would boost the economy and possibly affect the American way of life.) Anyway, this competition would be a great thing to put on a resume, especially if we won. Plus it would help me get noticed by a local marketing company that I could see myself working for in the future.

2)As I walked into school one day, I said hi to one of my study hall advisers I had in 8th grade, who's also a business teacher in my school. (Since I was always quiet in her study hall, she's grown to like me.) She of course said hi back, but also mentioned a an event that was taking place in the summer that she thought I would be a good candidate for. It's basically an accounting workshop, being run at a college up north. She said that only one 11th grade student could go from each school, and she wondered if I would be interested. I of course pounced at the opportunity, thinking that this could also look great on a resume, and who knows, maybe I could become an "Accounting Amateur." She has since given me the paperwork that I need to fill out, and turn in. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I'm automatically "In." I still have to have an interview. So *Fingers crossed!*

3) I am part of a statewide history club, and have in the past two years been a delegate. This year, with a more business tamed mind, I went and personally came up with some appealing ideas. My first idea was to create more income. I thought of the hundreds of teenagers who come to the meeting with a pocket full of cash to spend, so why not tap into the money being introduced into the local economy? I proposed briefly, that we sell a sort of advertisement to the locals. They give us (The club) a certain amount of money and we'll spend a fraction of that on printing off pieces of paper, saying that they sponsor our club, so we should do business with them. If the businesses don't receive that much business, oh well, the convention is held at a different location each year. Another one of my ideas was to offer a student choice award for the best project presented at the convention. This will boost member moral, and ultimately get the members to talk about it to their friends. This would be a great way to receive free advertisement. Yet another idea I brought up at the meeting was to develop a new contest, to boost morale and eliminate arguments at the meetings. For the past two years, Ive noticed that much time is wasted on designing a t-shirt for that years convention. This not only wastes time, but also potential funds. So I proposed a solution, why don't we host a T-shirt design contest among all the members? That way we won't waste time deciding on overall color, text color, font, text placement etc. but rather spend maybe 10 min choosing from a handful of options. All of my ideas were a smash hit at the meeting, and are expected to take root, beginning next year.