Thomas County Central High School Future Business Leaders of America chapter presented a strong showing at the 2019 Georgia FBLA State Leadership Conference. Numerous students have advanced to this summer’s national competition.
Held March 22-24 in Atlanta, the conference pits the state’s best youth business minds against each other to determine who has what it takes to advance to nationals. Results are still being finalized, but as of month’s end, TCCHS has seven students deemed national qualifiers in their respective events.
“What continues to amaze me about this year's conference is just how young our chapter is and the success that we had across all classes at state,” TCCHS FBLA adviser Nicholas Haskin said. “Out of 24 finalists/medalists, only five of them were seniors. That means there is a lot of talent that will return and continue to push and raise underclassmen to compete at the highest levels."
National qualifiers are Zach Goff, Savannah Moore, Sophia Kona, Sarah Deese, Dev Patel, Jonathan Strickland and Christian Miranda.
Zach Goff earned second place in Help Desk.
“I took a test over help desk procedure, and then I presented in front of judges, pretending to be a help desk manager in order to fix a Bluetooth home security system,” he said of his event.
Goff is thrilled with his placement and advancement to nationals.
“It means a lot knowing that my hard work has been paid off,” he said. “I did much better than I expected, and I am excited about [the] future competition. I'm very excited about competing at the national level. I will try to hone my skills in order to do the best I can at the competition.”
Senior Dev Patel, 18, and his teammates – Jonathan Strickland and Christian Miranda – earned third in Public Service Announcement. They worked directly with local business New Hire Solutions to create the video. They presented a 30-second PSA and explained its purposes and how they built it.
“This year’s topic was soft skills in the work environment,” he said. “We explained the importance of soft skills and what soft skills are in the video. I feel like our placement was justified by the amount of effort we put into our project. We did not expect this much of a success; all we were hoping for was national qualification.”
This progression is particularly meaningful to Patel.
“I’ve been in FBLA for four years, and to qualify in my last year was really satisfying,” he said. “We’re happy to have made it this far, but we’re still going to try for placement on the national level.”
Freshman Christian Miranda, 14, said making an interesting PSA with that short of a run time was difficult, but they focused their entry to play like a sports highlights reel to engage their audience. He, too, is excited by the team’s advancement.
“Our group worked together well, and that played a big part in our success,” Miranda said.
Teammate Jonathan Strickland, 16, also qualified in Coding & Programming. He used Java to create an eBook application that could manage the distribution of electronic books to students.
“Placing third in both of my categories has given me an immense feeling of accomplishment,” the junior said. “I'd say that the thought of presenting a PSA or computer program is a lot easier in your head. When I walked in alone in a room full of people to present my program, my nerves went wild. I definitely didn't perform my presentation as well as I expected to, but I hope to improve that moving on to the national competition.”
To make nationals in his first year as an FBLA member is incredibly exciting to Strickland.
“Being able to achieve success in both of my categories and see how something that started small can grow into something so large has really inspired me to do more and create more,” he said. “To prepare for the trip to the national competition, I am going to continue working on improving my projects and my presentation skills as much as possible.”
Junior Savannah Moore, 16, is part of a group that advanced in Local Annual Business Report. They placed fourth at state.
“I would explain this category as just making a complex collage in a book form,” Moore said. “In this event, we made a magazine for our school’s FBLA club. We used Adobe Fireworks and Microsoft Publisher to complete this project.”
Moore is extremely excited about her group’s placement, especially considering this is everyone’s first year in FBLA.
“Our group will take all of the judges’ advice into consideration with revising our magazine,” she said. “I am very proud of our group and our hard work.”
Junior Sarah Deese, 17, one of Moore’s teammates, is happy to have placed and excited for nationals.
“I'm happy we even placed fourth,” she said. “Out of all the schools that came and did this, not only did we make it to the top 10 but we were also in the top four to go to nationals! I'm really happy/excited about going to nationals. It's a big accomplishment for not only me but for the two girls I worked with.”
Though they did not advance to nationals, several other TCCHS FBLA students placed at state. Some even improved upon their standing from regional competition.
Junior Bryce Barwick, 16, and her partner received fifth place in their category, Social Media Campaign. Their campaign centered on Giving Tuesday, and they had to build a campaign and three social media platforms based on it to persuade people to contribute to FBLA through Giving Tuesday. For state, they prepared a PowerPoint and presented their campaign to the judges.
“I feel like we placed well,” Barwick said. “We went from 12th place after region to fifth place in [the] state. I think we did as we expected. Of course, we hoped we would make it to nationals, but we still did our best and placed well.”
Kendajah Cummings, Barwick’s partner, feels good about their placement.
“This is my first year in FBLA,” she said. “Therefore, placing fifth was shocking to me. I honestly didn’t know I would place that high because there are so many other great presentations….”
Freshman Alyssa Barlow, 14, placed seventh in Introduction to Business Communications, a test she says features lots of grammar and writing skills questions.
“I was completely surprised when I placed in the Top 10,” she said. “I did way better than I originally had imagined. It means a lot to me. It shows that a lot of studying and hard work really can and will pay off.”
Whether they placed or not, these students gained valuable experience and knowledge from the competition. They also have a lasting love for FBLA.
“Being a part of FBLA has brought me together with people I probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to meet otherwise,” Sophia Kona, 15, said. “Our school's FBLA program is like a family that strives to build each other up. Being a part of it gives me an opportunity to put back into my school something that means a lot to me. Participating in events like region, state, and in the future, nationals is something new. I have never been a part of a school team like this before, and I am so thankful for what it has done for me. “
Freshman Emily Bishop, 14, says FBLA means a lot to her. So did going to the state conference.
“It shows me how I can participate in business events to see if I want to do something like that for my future,” Bishop said. “Going to state opens your eyes compared to region. The state competition is so much fun. I got to see all different types of categories and see if I am interested in any of them.”
The 2019 FBLA National Leadership Conference is this summer in San Antonio, Texas.
"It has taken ‘A LOT’ of work to make it through regional and state competitions,” Haskin said. “It will take even more hard work and preparation to walk across the stage against some of the best in the world. Presenters will continue to practice to perfect their presence and skills. Submission events will take judges’ recommendations and make improvements to perfect their documents."
Haskin is pleased with the chapter’s performance this year and anticipates more good things from this group of youth.
"I am so impressed with the performance of this year's chapter at regional and state competitions,” he said. “We set out specific goals at the beginning of the year to win region for the eighth year in a row, qualify as many as we could for state, qualify for the 2019 National Leadership Conference and Competition, and to continue to make TCCHS FBLA a place where every student feels accepted, challenged and motivated to impact their generation with leadership. We were able to accomplish all of our goals and even achieve 100 members for the first time in TCCHS FBLA history.”
Box of TCCHS FBLA State Placers
* Zach Goff ~ second place ~ Help Desk
* Jonathan Strickland ~ third place ~ Coding and Programming
* Dev Patel, Jonathan Strickland, Christian Miranda ~ third place ~ Public Service Announcement
* Sarah Deese, Sophia Kona, Savannah Moore ~ fourth place ~ Local Annual Business Report
Bryce Barwick and Kendajah Cummings ~ fifth place ~ Social Media Campaign
Meg Harnevious and Kelly Pledger ~ sixth place ~ Digital Video Production
Alyssa Barlow ~ seventh place ~ Introduction to Business Communication
Brooklyn Reese ~ ninth place ~ Digital Video Production
Ethan Nicoll ~ ninth place ~ Business Law
Sarah Carnes and Emily Potter ~ 10th place ~ E-Business
Karsyn Bush and Emily Bishop ~ finalist ~ Intro to Business Presentation
Kealie Bennett ~ finalist ~ Electronic Career Portfolio
Caleb Moore ~ finalist ~ Public Speaking
Kamryn Corbin, Kuldip Delada, Jade Moser ~ finalist ~ Business Ethics
* denotes a national qualifier