Submitted by Pat Kane
Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School’s (SPFHS) Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter competed in Atlantic City, New Jersey, against over 50 schools. From March 7 to 9th, 2018.
The SPFHS FBLA chapter had 11 members compete in business topics varying from financial math, help desk, and more!
As a chapter, the SPFHS FBLA was recognized for the following chapter awards: Website Award of Merit, March of Dimes Volunteer, Membership Equalization and an award for Membership Expansion.
Three students nominated administrators for awards as well: Mrs. Fitzgibbon was awarded with Outstanding Local Chapter Volunteer and the adviser of the SPFHS FBLA, Mrs. Henry, received the Outstanding Local Chapter Adviser Award as well as her 5 Years of Service Award.
The conference held workshops in addition to competitions where students were able to pick a career track to listen to professionals and college majors of the given career.
The chapter was also proud to hold a campaign for sophomore Sandra Abdelmalak who ran for State Secretary. Although she did not win the position, it was a great way to involve all of the chapter and learn more about leadership positions available in FBLA.
The conference attendees included: Nicole Alvarez (Word Processing and American Enterprise Project), Lauren Eck (Help Desk and American Enterprise Project), Cheryl Schneider (Insurance and Risk Management), Alexa Anselmo (Client Services), Ryan Eng. (Intro to Information Technology), Shannon Persaud (Business Ethics), Ava Buttigheri (Client Services), Noah Samms (Intro to Business Presentation), Sandra Abdelmalak (Intro to Business Presentation), Zachary Labush (Accounting 1), and John Castro (Introduction to Public Speaking).
The chapter had four people place in team and individual events, as well as three participants making it to the final round.
Lauren Eck and Nicole Alvarez placed third in American Enterprise Day, a project which included writing a 15-page paper and 10-minute presentation about the American enterprise system and the annual Entrepreneurship Breakfast held by DECA and FBLA on November 15, 2017.
Cheryl Schneider placed fourth in Insurance & Risk and also received the Gold Officer Award. For this event, she had to complete a 100-question test on insurance and risk management in an hour or less.
Alexa Anselmo placed fifth in Client Services, an interactive role-playing event. She was an employee on the phone with the judges who were asking questions about the given case study.
Nicole Alvarez placed second in Word Processing and received the Gold Member Award. For her individual event, she completed a production test using Word Documents with specific jobs to complete (i.e. memos, agendas, business report formatting) in under an hour. She was the only student from SPFHS FBLA to qualify for nationals!
Overall, the conference was a success!
(above, l-r) Zachary Labush, Cheryl Schneider, Ava Buttigheri, Alexa Anselmo, Nicole Alvarez, Lauren Eck, Mrs. Bethany Henry, Shannon Persaud, Sandra Abdelmalak, Noah Samms, JanAndre Castro, and Ryan Eng.
