With aspirations of helping fellow students and his community, Everson Moran is looking forward to the next journey.
The junior at Lakewood High School was recently elected as the state president of the North Carolina Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) during the state convention in Greensboro.
“I’m doing this for the community and for the state as a whole because I believe every students have potential,” Moran said. “It’s just a matter of making sure they’re confident enough to believe in themselves.”
Moran was recently honored by the Sampson County Schools Board of Education for the accomplishment for the 2018-2019 school year. FBLA is a career and technical student organization, with more than 200,000 members in the division.
“For the first few days you can’t believe it,” Moran said about becoming state president and people having trust in him. “If people see a vision, they want to follow it. It’s really cool because it shows that if you’re willing to seek out those opportunities people will help you out. I didn’t realize how many people are willing to get behind you as long as you have a vision.”
At the moment, Moran said it’s a little overwhelming that he’s responsible for the whole state in his leadership role. But it’s a role he’s looking forward to during the 2018-2019 school year.
One of his goals was to improve communication throughout North Carolina for FBLA. He believes it’s key for membership and community service efforts — the other points he campaigned on. He also want spread awareness about competitions for topics such as advertising and marketing. As president, Moran wants to encourage students to compete and possibly earn cash prizes for doing so.
“I didn’t know I had a thing for public speaking until I competed,” Moran said. “That set me on track to where I am today. People here are very smart and good at mathematics. They can do stuff like marketing, advertisement … With the courses we offer here, they sync a lot with the current competitions that we have.”
Moran wants to improve social media efforts to help increase membership and provide education on business and career opportunities in North Carolina.
“That’s the benefit of organizations like that,” he said about FBLA. “They not only prepare you for college, but your future as a whole. That way, you can be sustainable”
Community service is another effort Moran will push during his one-year term. He was recently selected as a member of Junior Staff of the Hugh O’ Brien Youth Leadership program at North Carolina State. Its mission is to inspire and develop members who are dedicated to leadership, service and innovation. After returning last summer, Moran said he wanted to give back more and not just for selfish reasons such as listing work on a college application.
“I always felt guilty because I thought that I was just doing this to make myself look good,” Moran said. “But once you find something that installs in you this sense of not only helping yourself out, but helping everybody else out, it transforms you in a way. You may feel this way, but you’re helping the community that gave back so much to you.”
During the year, FBLA partners with the March of Dimes, an organization that raises funds for research and programs to help end premature birth, birth defects and infant mortality.
Moran described his introduction to FBLA as an amazing beginning. It started when his adviser Heather Tew came to Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School for a Career and Technical Education seminar several years ago. FBLA students from LHS introduced themselves and captured the attention of Moran. He still has a shirt he won for answering a question. Towards the end of eighth grade, Moran was thinking about pursuing a career in business management.
After joining FBLA in high school, Moran got involved in service projects and explored what the organization offers for the community. He expressed how there’s plenty of opportunities to help out, instead of traveling to larger cities such as Fayetteville. As a freshman, he became vice president and president the next year. After competing in public speaking during the regional competition, Moran met with other leaders who influenced him. He later campaigned for the position and was later elected to president.
At LHS, Moran is involved with FFA, Student Government and marching band. He was accepted into the Economics for Leaders program at Wake Forest University and served as a Governor’s Page. After graduating from high school, he would like to go into government or public service. Some of his collegiate plans include the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill an law school at the University of Virginia.
The rising senior grew up in the Roseboro area, where he received support from community members. For his campaign, Moran received support from his employer Uncle Vinny’s Pizzeria Ristorante. The owner, Jennifer Honeycutt, sponsored his campaign.
“My mother said they saw the grace,” he said.
His coworkers supported as well. Moran was also supportive of LHS Principal John Goode, school teachers such as Tew and Todd Wheeler and his campaign manager Jana Hunter, a LHS student. Moran wants to set a trend of other FBLA students becoming future state presidents.
“I would like to serve as an inspiration that nothing is impossible,” he said. “You can come from a small town and do great things.”