Technology recently intervened in the challenge for Washington-­Wilkes Comprehensive High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) to connect with the community while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

W-WCHS senior Arianna P., vice president of public relations of the local FBLA chapter, led Business Communications class students in creating Instagram posts of tips of interest to young people for Wilkes County Community Partnership (WCCP). The students, whose classroom is a computer lab, used an online design site to create their posts and included Perlotte as a collaborator so that she could manage the posts.

“It was heartwarming to think that my peers would help me with something like this,” Perlotte said. “I was moved that they understood the importance of helping others and by their willingness to do so.”

Perlotte has been creating social media posts and fliers for WCCP this semester as part of her Work Based Learning (WBL) experience. WBL is a Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) program that places students in paid jobs or internships that align with their career interests and CTAE pathways. WBL enables students to gain work experience and earn course credit. Perlotte shares her WBL experience between the Washington-Wilkes Middle School office and WCCP.

Perlotte, who has career plans in public relations, has been mentored in her WCCP internship by Paige Miller, a WCCP social media committee volunteer who lives near Atlanta. Perlotte and Miller communicate via email and virtual meetings. Before directing the students on the FBLA project, Perlotte brought her laptop into the classroom during a virtual meeting with Miller to introduce her to the students.

“Arianna leveraged one hour of her time to produce 16 hours of work,” said FBLA adviser and Business Communications teacher Lise Kalla. “The class enjoyed the project, FBLA accomplished a community service objective, and WCCP gained weeks if not months of Instagram posts.”

FBLA is a co-curricular organization, required by Georgia Department of Education standards in all business and computer science courses. “All business and computer science students work on leadership skills and perform community service as their FBLA classroom connection regardless of membership,” Kalla said.

According to its website, WCCP is a community-based non-profit organization which works to improve the quality of life for all citizens of Washington-Wilkes by working to reduce barriers and increase positive factors within the county.

“We have been fortunate to receive assistance from Paige Miller in setting up a viable Facebook and Instagram presence, and from Arianna who has mentored under her,” said WCCP Executive Director Amethyst Wynn. “Arianna has truly been a leader to other students helping them to generate content which helps WCCP provide interesting, exciting, and enticing social media displays. WCCP is thankful for Paige and Arianna.”