On April 10-12, 2022, three students from North went to Springfield to compete in the FBLA leadership competition. Senior Noah Sentnor placed 7th in Business Calculations.
“The competitions prepare me for life because even though they’re just tests the content can be applied to life outside of school. I would recommend other students to join FBLA because the environment of the club really helps you develop financial and entrepreneurship skills even if you aren’t planning on going into it because everyone needs it,” said Sentor.
This year was the first year since the start of the pandemic that students were able to compete in person.
“Covid has had an impact on what we were allowed to do. Covid moved our 2020 state event to an online only competition and leadership workshops, and our 2021 district and state competition was online only, and in 2022 only our district competition was moved to online performance. Our members do take all objective tests online at their home school with a proctor for district and state competitions,” said Business & Personal Finance Teacher Carla Hertlein who has been an FBLA adviser for 17 years.
“I competed for financial math and supply chain management. I got most of my information using online resources to study. and my family helped me prepare a lot,” said freshman Arushi Agrawal.
Preparation for FBLA competition is mostly independent for students who choose to participate.
“I assist students with printing the event requirements, scoring guides, and objectives. Students are required to prepare on their own with some guidance. FBLA has a rule that I am not allowed to assist with projects because I am the adviser, but they can ask other teachers for feedback,” said Hertlein.
To prepare for competition, students pick events that sound interesting to them or pick events that they have a background in from previous classes that they are taking or have completed in high school.
“Students can pick from a variety of events and topics. Some events are an objective test only, some events are an objective test and performance, some events are a project only, some events are a project and a performance,” said Hertlein.
Missouri FBLA-PBL is divided into 20 individual Districts, each comprising 15-30 area schools. Winners from each DLC advance on to compete at the State Leadership Conference according to the Missouri FBLA website.
Students have to compete in district competitions before they are eligible to go to state, which includes a test and students who place in the top five at district competitions are able to move onto the state competition.
“It is a lot of studying and then testing, and then more studying. I would definitely recommend it for students who plan on majoring in business or something in that field, it is really interesting,” said freshman Janu Kambli.
FBLA meets 1-2 times a month in the fall and once a month in the winter. Each school is required to have the organization, but is more than just competing in the organization’s events.
“North FBLA has a tradition of making blankets to donate during November/December, writing thank you cards to teachers/staff, and usually we participate in Trunk or Treat,” said Hertlein.