FBLA Northern Section Competition

As April comes closer and closer, so does the California State Competition for FBLA chapters from schools across the state. FBLA stands for Future Business Leaders of America and it’s all about preparing students for their future careers in business by participating in competitive events, leadership development, and many educational programs.

In the beginning of the year, each section of the state (Northern, Southern, Central, Bay, Gold Coast, and Inland) hosts their Section Leadership Conference where students can sign up to partake in various competitive events to hopefully win and move on to compete at state. My team and I decided to try participating in some of these competitive events at our Northern Section Leadership Conference (NSLC). Here’s a little bit about what they are:

The California Awards Program, also known as competitive events, recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas. [They] also prepare students for successful careers in business by providing opportunities to apply classroom concepts in a workforce-simulated competitive environment, while fostering a bit of competitive spirit!

–CAFBLA

FBLA has all kinds of events from objective tests, presentations and role play, public speaking, and interviews. We signed up for two different events; Entrepreneurship and Hospitality Management. Each competition was wildly unique and we learned a lot through preparing for each. Both, however, are the same type. At the state level, each team takes a collaborative multiple choice test and then at state, teams take a second test and do a role play presentation where they interact with judges.

The CA FBLA organization was spot on when they say these events educate students all kinds of areas. To prepare for each event we had to learn and study each subject. Entrepreneurship is all about what is takes to start, run, and manage a business. Hospitality Management is all about managing and running hotels, bed and breakfasts, and various other hospitality services. As a result of wanting to succeed in both of these, my team and I ended up learning about various business aspects.

So How Did We Do?

Well, this is my team and I’s first year as a part of the FBLA chapter at my school and we didn’t know how it would go! We tried our best on both tests and felt pretty confident! We must have done pretty well because we ended up placing high enough to move on to state in BOTH! We got 2nd place out of 15 school in Entrepreneurship and placed 5th in Hospitality Management.

I had such a fun time partaking in my first FBLA competitive event and I am super excited to get to compete at the state level alongside people from all over California! The best part is, the event is in Sacramento, so it’s nice and close to home. We better start preparing now because we plan on placing high at state!