FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS of AMERICA
Some of the specific goals of FBLA at University High School are to help our students develop local business partnerships and create more interest in and develop a deeper understanding of the importance of giving back to the community. We encourage our members to participate in volunteer projects which contribute to the improvement of home, business, and community.
Our F.B.L.A. students are the same students that responsible for running our Income Tax Assistance Site, work in the Trojan Branch of Educators Credit Union here on campus, and oversee our KIVA Club.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program
In 2004, A.J. Moore applied and received designation as an Internal Revenue Service Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site.
The University High School Tax Service, which was formally A.J. Moore Academy's VITA Program, has successfully served the Waco community for the past 13 years. In that time our teachers and students have prepared and filed over 20,000 income tax returns resulting in over thirty-five million dollars in refunds for the Waco Community.
In providing free tax services to our community, not only do our students gain real world experience from this program, but they have also gained the satisfaction of helping and giving back to our community. This program is funded through Waco ISD's CTE Department but all of the students are volunteering their own time to prepare taxes for the community.
KIVA CLUB
Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 and based in San Francisco, with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Kiva.org celebrates and supports people looking to create a better future for themselves, their families and their communities. By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential.
This year our students have chosen to focus supporting women entrepreneurs in Africa.
These $25 micro loans force our students to carefully evaluate loan recipients in order to make good loans that will be repaid and lent out again.
We feel like they have done an AMAZING job!
To date, our students have made 151 loans to 47 different countries and turned $1,000 in deposits into $3,850 in loans.
Trojan Branch of Educators Credit Union
On Wednesday, April 23rd 2014 the Trojan Branch of Educators Credit Union opened on University High School’s campus.
This was the result of many years of hard work by Mrs. Angela Reiher, who was the Dean of Academies at the time. It was her belief that this on campus credit union would give students life skills early on, and hopefully prevent major financial mistakes down the road.
It is open to students, staff, and parents on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays during all three lunches and is run by the students of the Ron E. Smith Academy of Business and Finance.
Students are able to open their own checking and savings account at the Educators Credit Union Trojan Branch. Many of the students who work in the Credit Union have gone on to, and continue to, work full time for Educators Credit Union.