Thirty students from AHS’ Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) missed school from Apr. 12 to 15 with the hopes of succeeding at the FBLA state competition. The club members, led by advisers Mr. John Finn and Mrs. Barbara Young, stayed in Ontario for three days and nights for the much anticipated competition and events. After their experience at State, they were not disappointed, as many members placed in their events and were invited to Nationals, which will be held in Baltimore from June 28 to July 1.

At the competition, AHS students competed in numerous events, consisting of individual and group events. Most participants had advanced to the State level from Sectionals, but some also participated in State-only events. Some individual events, such as Business Calculations, required participants to take a written test. Other individual events, such as Business Presentation, involved a live presentation by participants in front of judges. There were also team events with teams of two to three people.

Freshman Alex Liu, who placed 1st at Sectionals and State for Introduction to Information Technology, was invited to compete in Nationals. He admits that he “did not study materials until a few days before the competition.” However, he believes that he did well because he had “been preparing for this event [his] entire life because [his] interest in technology drives [him] to naturally dive deeper into the field and discover more about it.” Alex also stated “I explored more into information technology, specifically servers, databases, and networks, after my parents’ business needed a more robust server solution. Then, I gained valuable knowledge about web technologies when I wanted to host my own website and set up my own web server. In the process of self-discovery, many concepts become cemented in me through real experiences with the technology. As such, I feel that my preparation was a lifelong research and guess-and-check game where I figured things out by working with them in real applications.”

On top of learning so much through competition, Vice President of Projects sophomore Jeffrey Lee was inspired when he “saw people compete in the Community Service Project, which are long term projects that have huge benefits for the community.” The projects helped to expose members to other fulfilling aspects of FBLA aside from just competitions. Along with attending project presentations, FBLA members also participated in hands-on workshops that taught them more about the business world.

Overall, FBLA members learned a lot through the competition process, workshops, and meetings at State. Congratulations to all the AHS’ members of FBLA for performing so well at State and good luck to those who are advancing to Nationals!