MMA FBLA Cadets and Faculty Attend Lecture on Technological Skills and the Future of Business

On September 21, 2021, a group of Missouri Military Academy (MMA) faculty and cadets from the MMA chapter of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) attended a lecture by Rodney Sampson, founder of Opportunity Hub and an accomplished technology entrepreneur, inclusive ecosystem builder, venture fund investor, selective advisor and published author. During his lecture, Sampson highlighted how leveraging technology can spur economic growth and community wealth and how the use of technology during the COVID crisis has created changes in the workplace. 

According to Business Department Chair and Technology Instructor Keith Morgan, Sampson’s discussion underscored one of the MMA business department’s goals: to equip cadets with the technological skillsets needed to succeed in a dispersed digital workplace.

“Dr. Sampson was talking directly to the kind of young adults our corps of cadets represents. He highlighted the immediate need for digitally skilled workers who can leverage their technological competence to build a prosperous community in Mexico, Missouri — or any place they may choose to live,” Morgan said.

According to MMA Business Instructor Maj. Peggy Reynard, Sampson’s discussion of the future of business was valuable in providing insight to cadets about what kind of skills they should develop to be successful in business.

“Dr. Sampson discussed the importance of knowing how to write code for a computer,” Reynard said. “The future of business will be to use coding to get computers to do what you want it to do. You can use that skill to enhance and create businesses.”

Funded by the Noble Health Foundation and Anointed Life Saving Ministries, the lecture was held at the Nobel Health Audrain Community Hospital auditorium. Instructors in attendance included Morgan, Reynard, plus MMA business instructor Chris Schafer and science instructor Vicki Briggs. Cadets in attendance included 9^th-graders Mason Brooks from Henrietta, Texas; Trey Rudolph from Kansas City, Missouri; and Zane Steichen from Goodrich, North Dakota.

The lecture, and MMA’s emphasis on the digital learning environment, supports the Academy’s strategic focus on enhancing the digital learning environment by aggressing leveraging digital tools and promoting digital citizenship.