DEWAYNE HOLLOWAY / dewayne@mcnews.online
The work ethic and desire to help others provided a Caddo Hills FBLA member with an opportunity to showcase the school on a statewide level.
FBLA sponsor Justin Neel shared that while attending a CTE conference in Little Rock he had an opportunity to visit with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson as well as leaders in the state’s education committee. Neel was there as President of the state CTE Committee and had taken a group of Caddo Hills FBLA students with him to help with the conference.
It was during the conference that Liz Ruiz seized the opportunity to shed light on the great work being done at the school.
Fellow senior Nallely Lopez recalled that Ruiz was talking with state leaders about her involvement in engineering classes at Caddo Hills which caught the attention of the Governor. Governor Hutchinson has made the inclusion of women and minorities in STEM programs a priority in his education platform.
After talking for a while with Ruiz the Governor and Secretary of Education Johnny Key decided to plan a trip to Caddo Hills so they could tour the school and showcase Liz Ruiz and the rest of the STEM program at Caddo Hills.
Neel beamed with pride when talking about Ruiz and the rest of his students who attended the conference.
“Liz just does what Caddo students do.” Neel said with a smile.
Ruiz is the outgoing District FBLA President and State Vice President. She is handing the gavel to Cinthia Lopez who will take over as District President and State Vice President. Neel shared that this was the first time he was aware that a student from the same school replaced an outgoing district president.
