Wellsville High School senior Clint Newton recently completed his second term as president of Kansas Future Business Leaders of America. Newton is the second student in Kansas FBLA history to serve as president for two terms.

Wellsville ? Clint Newton thinks high school students can be as involved as they want to be.

And he should know.

The Wellsville High School senior has spent the last four years being involved in his favorite extra-curricular activity — Future Business Leaders of America, an organization for students interested in pursuing careers in business or business-related fields.

“FBLA is the best thing that ever happened to me,” Clint, 17, said. “You can be as involved as you want.”

‘He had the bug’

Wellsville FBLA adviser Dawn Rottinghaus can remember Clint’s first trip to the State Leadership Conference his freshman year.

“He looked at me and said, ‘I want to be up on that stage next year,”‘ she said. “He had the bug.”

At the time, Rottinghaus didn’t think much of Clint’s remark. After all, he was just a freshman. But Clint was determined to become a state officer of FBLA. He spent his sophomore year campaigning for president, knowing he’d have to unseat an incumbent to win the position.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and I was pretty adamant about it,” Clint said.

Persistence paid off.

In March of Clint’s sophomore year, he was elected by his peers to serve as president his junior year, making him the state’s youngest FBLA president ever and the first Wellsville student to serve as the state’s president.

“I kept getting more and more involved,” Clint said. “I didn’t settle for just doing a couple of activities. If there was an activity, I was there.”

A second term

Running for re-election was a no-brainer for Clint — and, apparently, a no-brainer for FBLA students across the state who re-elected him as their president. Clint became only the second person in the state’s history to serve two terms as FBLA president.

Clint even made a go at the national level, losing by 12 votes when he ran for FBLA’s national treasurer. “Even though I didn’t win, I’d still do it all over again,” he said.

In Rottinghaus’ 16 years as Wellsville’s FBLA adviser, Clint is her only student to run for a national office.

For her, one of the best memories of Clint came when he delivered a speech at a national convention to more than 7,500 people.

“It was flawless and confident. It was heartfelt,” she said.

Although he didn’t win a national office, Clint still found a way to get involved at the national level, serving as the national president’s assistant during his junior and senior year.

“I always tried to bring ideas from the national level and apply them to the state,” he said.

When it comes to FBLA state competitions, Clint managed to leave his mark in numerous categories.

In March, Clint placed in seven events at the state competition, making him the only Wellsville student ever to place in every event entered.

From categories like accounting and computer applications to group competitions, Clint had first-place finishes in the Mr. Future Business Leader and National Who’s Who contests, which included testing, interviews and other requirements.

Clint, along with other Wellsville students, also placed first in the Partnership in Business category, which required the group to make a presentation on its partnership with community events.

“We presented on how we partnered with the Wellsville Chamber of Commerce to help with Wellsville Days, Hallowesta and Holidays in Wellsville,” Clint said.

That type of community involvement is something that Rottinghaus has encouraged her students to do.

“I want kids to get out and do community service,” she said. “I really push for them to give back to others that may not be as fortunate.”

‘A lot of opportunities’

Clint is just one of 142 FBLA members at Wellsville — the largest local FBLA chapter in the state.

“There’s a lot of opportunities for kids,” Rottinghaus said. “Not all kids are involved, but there’s opportunities to get involved if they choose to be.”

Those opportunities led Clint to meeting friends from all over the country.

“I’m sad about leaving FBLA,” he said. “I’m used to always having to prepare for interviews and speeches. Now, I’m not sure when I’m going to get to wear my business suit and go give another speech.”

As for his future, Clint plans to attend Kansas State University and major in accounting. Luckily for him, the university has a Phi Beta Lambda chapter — the college equivalent of FBLA.

“I’m just an average Joe who chose to get involved in something,” he said.