By DIANA ZHANG
Staff Writer
On February 7, the University High School (UHS) Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club competed in its first competition of the year at Southern California’s Southern Section Leadership Conference (SSLC) at Whittier High School. The competitors, who chose their desired events (individual or group) several months prior to the competition, competed in two rounds of objective testing.
The students competed to prove their knowledge on a variety of business-related topics, ranging from cyber security to hospitality management. After proctoring four hours of written testing, the convention provided students with a myriad of afternoon activities such as business workshops, a photo booth and a video game truck. When asked about the students’ achievements, the club’s advisor Mrs. Lenert (Math Dept.) said, “It’s pretty amazing [considering] we don’t have a business process here. The students have to choose their event and they study on their own in order to determine their success.”
Of the 700 total attendants at the competition, 82 were from UHS. At the closing ceremony, students were ranked by their test scores in each event. For most events, the top 5 scorers qualify to attend the state championships. Out of the 82 UHS FBLA members, not only did 66 place within the top 10 of an event, but 37 also placed within the top 5. The club’s Secretary, Treasurer and FBLA’s Vice President of Activities, Megha Torpunuri (Jr.) said, “I’m pretty proud of how UHS FBLA did at SSLC! Not only did we maintain our 2nd place sweepstakes, but the amount of competitors we had advance to the state level was phenomenal!”
Likewise, club member Harry Liang (So.) said, “It was awesome to be part of one of the larger chapters in the convention and to be part of a group that represented UNI well by placing highly in a lot of events.”
UHS FBLA will continue on to the state competition in the spring. The qualified members will compete later this year in Santa Clara, California from April 9-12. The national competition will take place in Chicago, Illinois during the Fourth of July weekend (July 3-5).