From April 7-9, 2025, select members of Hempfield Area’s FBLA Club attended the FBLA State Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
An enriching experience, the participants that attended started their trip early Monday morning. The exceptional group of students, composed of Jaiden Smith, Allison Paris, Clara Carmichael, Logan Thomas, Teagan Paterra, Leigha Ritenour, Noah Altman, Alexandra Perry, and Mia Zachetti, left for Hershey at 4 A.M. Despite the group being exhausted from their early wake up call, by 8 A.M. the group had already gotten ready and dressed up in their business attire for their first day at the state conference.
During the day on both Monday and Tuesday, Hempfield Area’s FBLA members did a number of tasks to get the most out of their experience. Whether that be presenting their competitive event to a panel of judges or sitting in on the multitude of workshops that explained different business and college concepts, knowledge and opportunity was surely shared.
Sophomore, Jaiden Smith, was one of just a few of Hempfield Area’s students who attended this event and got the chance to present her competitive event, Visual Design, to judges. She described it as a both nerve wracking and exciting experience. Smith, while presenting, showed flawless confidence and background on her topic. Not once did she pick up a script or stumble while being questioned. Later, when asked about how she managed to come so prepared, she stated, “I just made up most of it as I went along.” This goes to show that Smith knew her topic like the back of her hand, so much so, that she could accurately answer questions and fill in more information based on her topic when it was needed.
To wrap up the two-day conference, on Tuesday night, every participant that attended the FBLA State Conference gathered together at the Giant Center for the awards ceremony. Unfortunately, no members from Hempfield Area won an award for being in the top ten of their competitive event. However, club sponsor, Mrs. Morelli, reiterated how proud she was of everyone that made it to the state conference throughout its entirety.
This event brings Hempfield Area’s FBLA events to a close for the school year on a high note. Looking to the future, next year will be sure to bring in new members and chances for success as it has every year before it, and hopefully every year to come.
