On January 9, members of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) Club visited Saint Vincent College in the Fred Rogers Center to perform several different performance events in the annual Regional Leadership Conference. In an unfortunate turn of events after a two-hour delay, the students in FBLA who took various online objective tests did not get to go to Saint Vincent for the award ceremony because it was postponed to a later date. The club of over 80 members is led by Mr. Douglas Aftanas, a law teacher at the high school and the recipient of the Teacher of the Year award in the year 2022.
Before the annual Regional Leadership Conference on Jan. 9, members of the FBLA Club selected a category that they were interested in and either took an online objective test on the topic, or performed a brief presentation to a group of judges at Saint Vincent. These online tests are administered online and after school in the Business hallway of the high school. Additionally, each exam consists of around 100 questions with under an hour to complete the objective test.
Students who were registered for only an objective test, or an objective test and performance event, took their online multiple choice exams on their topic of choice during the week of December 11-15. Those students who finished in the Top 3 of their objective test, and the Top 2 of their performance event, were able to choose to move on to the PA FBLA State Conference & Competition in Hershey on April 8-10.
This year, over 45 students signed up to participate in the conference at Saint Vincent College. When the results of the conference were released, over 30 students qualified for the state conference at Hershey in April. However, due to an unexpected two-hour delay because of snow and wind, only 17 students attended the conference.
Additionally, the FBLA dress code requirements are very strict, requiring the students who attended the conference for their performance events to dress up very formally and in a business manner.
Instead of leaving at 7:25 AM like planned, the FBLA Club members who had a performance event to perform to the judges left the high school at 11:00 AM. After Mr. Aftanas talked to Dr. Choby and the Region 11 Advisor about the conference, the students who were attending the conference had first priority in getting into their classes to set up and perform their events.
With the week Jan. 9 being the last week of the second term and the first semester, many students regrettably could not attend because of last-minute exams and limited time at the conference due to the snow delay.
Many students competed in events that were of interest to them or based solely on careers that they wanted to pursue in the future, after high school. Gracie Paulovich, a junior at the high school, chose a subject to compete in based off of her future career plans.
“I competed individually in the Broadcast Journalism event,” Paulovich said. “Broadcast Journalism is what I’d like to pursue as a career, so I thought competing in that event would help me learn more about the field.”
However, some students chose an event based on their interests and to practice skills for future careers. Drew Brown, a senior, chose to compete in the Impromptu Speaking event because he liked how it made him think on the spot.
“I chose Impromptu Speaking as my event and competed by myself,” Brown said. “I participated in this event last year and enjoyed how it made me think on my feet and practice my public speaking skills.”
For many students, this was their first time competing in an FBLA event. Since the event was limited to students competing in performance events due to the unexpected snow day.
Carter Kunicky, a freshman at Norwin and second place winner in the Impromptu Speaking event, chose to participate in the Regional Leadership Conference because one of his strong suits is public speaking. Although, the event appeared to be well organized despite the limited time and harsh weather. After the event, the students stopped at the Westmoreland Mall on Route 30 for lunch on their own, consisting of the food court or Panera Bread.
“It was a crazy experience with there being a two hour delay and then an absolutely wild storm,” Kunicky said. “When me and around 7 other students had to walk to another building, the wind was so strong it almost knocked us over and the rain was pouring down, so that was a wild experience getting there. We went shopping and got lunch after which was also amazing. Overall, I really enjoyed it all and had a lot of fun.”
Despite the hectic nature of the event due to the snow storm, many students still performed extremely well in the Regional Leadership Conference at Saint Vincent.
The current president of FBLA and first place winner of the Impromptu Speaking performance event, Drew Brown, noted that all of the students competing in performance events were still extremely prepared.
“The trip to Saint Vincent was hectic as we had a two hour delay but all of our students worked very hard and made the less than ideal situation prepared,” Brown said.
As a result of the snow delay, many judges became more accommodating with the students who had performance events. Some students enjoyed having the extra time to sleep in, while others felt extra stressed due to a limited amount of time of preparation in the college.
Hanna Klingensmith, a junior in FBLA and first place winner of the Future Business Leader performance event, competed for her second time in the Regional Leadership Conference. This year, Hanna was excited to go to Saint Vincent College with her sister, Amber Klingensmith, a current freshman at Norwin. For Hanna, the Future Business Leader event aligned with both her interests and her career goals in the future. In her event she had to take an objective test online, and then create a resume and cover letter and then present the two to judges in an interview.
“I had never really made a resume before, and I had not even heard of a cover letter, so this was excellent practice for when I am applying for a real job someday,” Klingensmith said.
Hanna explained that the event was more rushed this year due to the snow storm that prevented some students from going to the college.
“My preparation was not affected very much, but I was lucky enough to have accommodating judges that gave me a couple minutes to collect myself before the interview,” Klingensmith said. “I already had my materials prepped in advance, so I wasn’t set back too much by the delay. The event was definitely more rushed this year, and we weren’t able to see the guest speaker or opening ceremony, which I was looking forward to. The awards ceremony was also cancelled, which kept us on edge for a while because many people didn’t know how they placed.”
Originally, members of FBLA that attended the conference at Saint Vincent were supposed to listen to a Community Outreach Specialist for the FBI, Felicia Trovato, speak about digital footprints, the vulnerability of social media presence when seeking employment, and cybersecurity in general. However, the guest speaker did not get to speak because of the limited time the students had to perform their events due to the delay.
Overall, despite the snow, members of FBLA had a lot of fun at the annual Regional Leadership Conference, with a shocking 32 out of 44 students qualifying for the state leadership conference in April.
