For years now, Hempfield Area’s Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, club has helped and encouraged students to better themselves in a multitude of ways. Whether that be enhancing their knowledge in the world of business or learning valuable lessons on leadership, FBLA club benefits its members.
Months ago, Hempfield Area’s FBLA club was tested with such lessons when they attended the FBLA Regional Conference at St. Vincent College on December 17, 2024.
The FBLA Regional Conference is an annual event where various schools from a certain area come and participate in competitive events. The competitive events are either performed through an objective test, taken at school, or a slide/verbal presentation in front of judges, at the conference. This conference is meant to challenge students in their social, teamwork, and knowledge skills.
FBLA members Madison Altman and Ben Shedlock were no strangers to these challenges as they reflected on their experience they faced after they presented their pitch on Intro. To Social Media Strategies to a panel of judges.
After they successfully completed their event, Altman explained that, “I was so nervous that I dropped my paper. However, I thought it was a good learning opportunity. Just talking to everyone like the judges was great.”
Shedlock also found the experience very beneficial and explained how simply learning about his topic, social media strategies, alone taught him so much about the world of business.
To compete in the FBLA Regional Conference is no easy feat. Third and first year FBLA members Dakota Gilroy and Joe Coldren attested to the tremendous amount of work that is needed to prepare for an event such as this one. When asked about the amount of preparation and dedication it took the duo to pull off their joint presentation, both students responded similarly. Gilroy stated, “I think there was a lot of thought and time we had to set aside and put towards this. I think the dedication involved in FBLA needs to have a high drive just so you can thoroughly get your presentation done. You also need to have a strong speaking voice and go through your presentation constantly and make sure that it looks acceptable for the judges.”
Coldren, in a similar fashion, added, “The dedication also comes through the nitty gritty work and finding different examples. Also, simply understanding what you’re going to talk about. If you don’t know what you’re talking about; the google slides behind you aren’t going to help.”
In addition to the experience of participating in this event and a reflection about the hard work it takes to pull this off, the benefit of the FBLA club, by many, is described as a very enriching one. Mrs. Morelli, who is in charge of Hempfield Area’s FBLA club, expressed that those who joined this club and attended these types of events are ambitious, and they want to build their skills in leadership and business. To add on, she said that the FBLA Regional Conference gave her students a chance to display all of their hard work and be rewarded for it.
Mrs. Morelli finished her statement by stating, “I would encourage students to join FBLA just as a means to have exposure to new areas of business, maybe step out of their comfort zone a little bit, and it’s a safe place to do that.”
After all students that attended the Regional Conference completed their events, awards were handed out for each categories’ best performers. From Hempfield Area, the 1st place winners were Alex Hayes in Intro. To Financial Math, Clara Carmichael in International Business, and Jaiden Smith in Visual Design. The 2nd place winners were Jacob Halsted in Banking & Financial Systems, Etallia Peterman in Broadcast Journalism, Jesse Crosby and Jacob Gilroy in Business Ethics, Madison Altman, Ben Shedlock and Zayden Miller in Intro. To Social Media Strategies, Joe Coldren and Dakota Gilroy in Sales Presentation, and Allison Paris and Teagan Paterra in Social Media Strategies. And, finally, the 3rd place winners were Isabel Hondal in Client Service, Logan Thomas in Entrepreneurship, Alexandra Perry, Leigha Ritenour and Mia Zachetti in Hospitality & Event Management, Noah Altman in Intro. To Business Concepts, Giovanni Capasso in Public Speaking, and Nick Klavon in Sports & Entertainment Management.
In Hempfield Area’s FBLA club, the next stop after their great performances at the Regional Conference, is the FBLA State Conference where all of Hempfield Area’s 1st, 2nd, and a select few 3rd place winners will attend from April 7-9 in Hershey, PA. It’s safe to say that after such exceptional performances at the regional level, Hempfield Area’s FBLA members are sure to do just as well at the state level.
