Between February 10 and 26, seven members of the school’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club participated in the organization’s annual state-level competition. FBLA is the largest career-oriented student business organization in the world, with over 200,000 students involved. The school’s chapter is part of the Connecticut chapter of FBLA, which offers fall and spring leadership conferences, as well as other educational events. 

Highlights from the team’s participation in the competition included Jason Shan ’23 placing 1st in Social Media Strategies, Nithya Chundi ’23 placing 2nd in Introduction to Business Procedures, Park placing 3rd in Marketing, and Kenny Zhang ’22 placing 3rd in Economics. 

At the competition, students took 60- to 90-minute multiple choice tests on business-related topics. The tests evaluated the competitors’ basic knowledge on the subjects, as well as their ability to analyze more challenging real-life scenarios. To prepare, participants studied investment banking, entrepreneurship, economics, social media strategies, and more. To help competitors gauge the content and difficulty of the test, Ilene Park ’22, co-head of FBLA, along with board members, prepared study guides with practice exams from previous years, Quizlet sets with key terminology, and resources from the FBLA website. 

Newer members of FBLA gained insight into business by studying for the competition. Chundi, who competed in the Introduction to Business Procedures event, said, “I studied topics ranging from human relations and business operations…to finance and communication skills. The competition gave me a taste for Nationals and exposed me to the idea that there are many different aspects to business, which is fascinating because I’d like to be flexible with what I do within business in the future.” 

In addition to the team’s success at the competition, Park was elected Vice President of the Connecticut FBLA. As part of the application process for the role, Park created a video campaign and was interviewed by current state officers. Park said, “I was very grateful to win the role of Vice President and am excited to carry out the work and mission of FBLA across the state. My responsibilities include overseeing the Fall and Spring State Leadership Conferences, attending weekly meetings, organizing events between school chapters, and [acting as a liaison] between the national and state organizations.”

Members who placed in the top four for their respective events in the state competition will participate in the online FBLA National Leadership Conference in June. At the conference, students will be able to network with other FBLA members, compete in events, attend workshops, and hear from keynote speakers. Mr. Alex Ginzburg, instructor in mathematics and faculty advisor to FBLA, said, “It has been a difficult year all around, so it is especially gratifying to see how well the team has performed, including several students who competed solo in team events and still did exceptionally well. Now – on to Nationals!”