Laila Kumar

The FBLA students bustle through the halls after several rounds of competition.

The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club helps high school students prepare for careers in business through competitions, leadership opportunities, and educational programs. From April 11 to April 14, over 2,500 students across California traveled to Anaheim for the FBLA State Leadership Conference. In this conference, students were able to experience leadership and career development training, and compete against other FBLA programs throughout the state. The results of this conference ultimately determine who would represent California in the national conference held in Florida. 

The way students prepare for the conference varies among what event they are competing in and the resources available. Sometimes it can be as simple as making flashcards or other times it may take some digging to find what the event demands. With 90 events to choose from, students must pick their strongest category and proceed from there. At Ayala, students competed in over 15 events, and 25 out of 28 possible trophies were won. 

“For role plays, they list new objectives that they give you and then take a look at the competencies because those are helpful and what they grade based off of,” Shawn Choi (11) said. 

In FBLA, students are able to compete individually, as well as in teams of up to three people. Similar to sports, the way teams work and operate play a large role in their scoring and placing. As a team, they all have to have a thorough understanding of the topic as it can make or break the level they place. 

“Communication and our team work was the main thing,” William Weng (11) said. “When we were doing the test, we didn’t have time to [ask questions] so we had to put a lot of trust in each other in a stressful situation.”

Students were able to compete in four different categories: Role Play Events, Production Events, Objective Tests, and Presentation Events. Each of these events has different requirements that must be met. 

In role play events, students were asked to demonstrate their communication skills through real life business situations. At Ayala, students competed in four different categories in role play events. The winners were Shaant Puri (11) who won 3rd place in Help Desk. Mihir Mandapaka (11), Ninad Moholkar (11), and William Weng won 6th place in Marketing. Neil Jatakia (11), Rubun Nagarajan (11), and Songbuer Yun (11) won 4th place in Network Design. Ryan Chao (11), Shawn Choi, and Brady Smith (11) won 1st place in Sports and Entertainment. 

In presentation events, students present a project, speech, or interview in front of judges. At Ayala students competed in five events. The winners were Shuchen Li (11), who won 7th place in Coding and Programming. Yaoyi Peng (11) won 8th place in Computer Game & Simulation Programming. Jillian Delarosa (10) and Sofia Esparza (10) won 2nd place in Introduction to Social Media Strategy. Isabella Le (11) won 10th place in Impromptu Speaking. Stephen Hung (12), Shaan Mistry (12), and Zhe Wang (12) won 4th place in Mobile Application Development. To conclude this category, Jacklyn Mendez (11) and Madison Ramirez (11) won 6th place in Social Media Strategies.

For Objective Tests, students are given a 100 question online multiple choice test focusing on business knowledge. In this category, the winners were Akshar Thakker (12) who won 7th place in Accounting II. Evan Chang (11) won 3rd place in Healthcare Administration. Ryan Chao, Shawn Choi, and Brady Smith won 2nd place in International Business. Jacklyn Mendez won 6th place in Organizational Leadership.

Even though our FBLA chapter did not place in the Top 10 high schools overall, we had plenty of successes and have significantly improved over the years. This year alone, students competed in 15 events, and 25 out of 28 possible trophies were taken home. In addition, one of our groups will be going to nationals in Florida due to their high placing in this competition. 

“Our success was making it to nationals,” Chao said. “We improved a lot from last year in our role play scores and our [multiple choice questions] scores.”