Arriving in Hershey on the morning of April 12^th, 44 members and their advisor, Mrs. Linda Westerlund, from the North Penn Future Business Leaders of America Chapter readied to compete in the FBLA State Leadership Conference early the next morning. In order to compete this competition, students were required to place in their event at the regional level.

Before getting down to business, the students were welcomed with relaxing activities on Sunday afternoon and evening, ranging anywhere from visiting Hershey Park to taking a shuttle bus to the outlets to playing a game of trivia.

Early on Monday morning, the group of students dispersed throughout the conference to different areas for their event. Westerlund explained that just as the topics of events prove to be of great variety, the methods of competing in an event differ greatly from one another. In some cases, an event could require a preliminary screening, knowledge test, or presentation.

Additionally, students competing were required to present themselves in business attire, whether they were competing, dining, or participating in a workshop.

“Everyone has to be in business attire for everything they do. It looks so nice,” said Westerlund. “All the kids are all dressed up with their suits and their dress pants.”

After a long day of competing, multiple students from the NPFBLA Chapter placed in the top ten for their events. Refer to the list below for details regarding the students who placed:

The team of Leah Kaplan, Elaine Luu, and Lynh Nguyen placed 9^th in Partnership with Business

The team of Jacob Diamond, Colin McConaghy, and Shannon Quinn placed 9^th in Marketing

Tom Rozinski placed 8^th in Business Law

Annie Shi and Evelyn Ma placed 7^th in Desktop Publishing

Sid Chandran placed 6^th in Help Desk

Chris Yang placed 6^th in Business Math

Harrison Barclay placed 6^th in Networking Concepts

The team of Kevin Chen, Max Ives, and Jason Rowland placed 6^th in Public Service Announcement

Chris Hsieh places 4^th in Database Design and Applications

Serena Jiang placed 4^th in Economics

Yang Yue placed 3^rd in Business Math

Kaitlyn Carrelli placed 3^rd in Job Interview

Jerry Zhao placed 1^st in Computer Applications

Of the students listed above, four are eligible to advance to the National Conference, which is held in Chicago this summer: Serena Jiang, Yang Yue (who is unable to attend), Kaitlyn Carrelli, and Jerry Zhao. Additionally, Oscar Armas-Luy, who is one of three on the National President’s Council for FBLA, will attend.

Not only is earning a place in the top ten is an impressive accomplishment, but also one that required dedication to the preparations that one’s event required. While prerequisites for events differ from one another, it’s clear that the students were committed. For instance, Westerlund explained that in the event for the public service announcement, the group of students was required to create, record, edit, and send in their creation before the State Leadership Conference.

Jerry Zhao, a member of the NPFBLA Chapter who placed 1^st in Computer Applications, explained that his competition consisted of two sections, a production test that accounted for 85% of the score and a multiple choice test that represented the remaining 15%.

“In the production test, competitors have two hours to create a bunch of professional documents in Microsoft Office,” explained Zhao. “These include PowerPoint, brochures, letters, databases, etc. At the end, they are scored on their [presentation], design, and adherence to the format guidelines. The multiple-choice section of the event consists of 100 questions on a variety of topics related to computers, from the Internet to networking to troubleshooting.”

However, Zhao explained that his favorite part of the conference was the open objective events, which consisted of approximately ten multiple-choice tests that anyone could take. In the end, Zhao placed in the top ten in three of these mini-events.

Another student among those who placed in the top ten was Yang Yue, who earned 3^rd place in Business Math. Mostly containing basic business calculations, Yue explained why the event, which required him to take a 100-question multiple-choice test, interested him.

“I did business math because I thought it would be worthwhile to learn,” said Yue. “I thought the skills that they tested on would be applicable to everyday life.”

Additionally, the NPFBLA Chapter was presented with two chapter awards, proving their continual commitment and hard work. Recognized as the 5^th largest Chapter in Pennsylvania and placing 4^th in the Outstanding Chapter Award, Westerlund explained that the recognition is worth the work. While the first award is solely based upon membership, the second required Westerlund to undergo a lengthy process of documenting and identifying their activeness as a chapter. In the end, she submitted 140 pages of copies proving everything that their chapter had accomplished.

Although the students and chapter itself were recognized, the NPFBLA Chapter had the honor of witnessing their dedicated advisor receive the Outstanding Advisor of the Year Award for the entire state of Pennsylvania. Not only has Westerlund advised the NPFBLA Chapter for 22 years, but also served as region 20’s advisor for 21 years. Additionally, her name can be found on the Advisor Wall of Fame in Reston, Virginia, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors. Although modest while revealing her accomplishments, Westerlund explained what a surprise it was to receive the award.

“This is my 22^nd year with FBLA, and I have never missed a State Conference,” said Westerlund. “I’ve sat there for 22 years and heard them go through the list of credentials that the advisor has, and then they go up on stage. I’ve seen it happen every year, and this year it got to be me.”