In Dec. the North Harford Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) took their Region Three Test/performance events with eleven competitors placing in the top 10, according to advisor Mrs. Victoria Bridges.

    Bridges stated, “Any student that places first through fifth on a written event is eligible to compete at the state level and those that placed in the top three in a performance event can compete at the state level. NH has 11 individuals/groups that will be headed to States.”

     The advisor said the first-place winners include Silvia Guevara-Martinez – accounting, Jackie Bultman, Jessica Fannin, and Grace Herron – Broadcast Journalism, Elijah Brown – Business Management, and Braxton Victor – Introduction to Business Concepts. 

     Those who placed second, were Caleb DeHart – Introduction to Business Procedures and Logan Rakestraw – Website Design. Rakestraw stated, “[He] hopes to place top 10 in states, using the same website [he] already created.”

     Rakestraw had to create a website for counties, which he did on his lawn care business. He added that the same website he created for counties, will be used again to compete for the state title. 

     Third place winners include Kyle Hoy – Accounting, Kyle Difilippo – Introduction to FBLA, and Emilee Gast-Woodward, Colette Rogers – Social Media Strategies.

     Fourth place, Alex Lavitz – Business Calculation, Elizabeth Herron – Introduction to Business Communication, and Catlyn Travagline and Piper Wright – Social Media Strategies. For Travaligne, her event required “detailing a description about how [they] will promote a company through social media.”

     For seventh place, Raph Frank – Business Management and for ninth place, Christopher Hash – Accounting and Adeloa Bamidle – Introduction to Business Concepts. 

     The competition was fully virtual this year,  according to Rakestraw, “[He] sent them [his] website link and waited to hear back from [the competition] to see [his] placing.” Travaligne added that it was super easy because it was online, but didn’t quite feel like a serious competition, since you didn’t see all of who you were competing against, and it was more of a waiting game. 

     Those that are eligible to go to States are, Guevara-Martinez, Bultman, Fannin, Herron, Brown, Victor, DeHart, Rakestraw, Hoy, Difilippo, Gast-Woodward, as well as any student who placed first through fifth on a written event.  

     According to Travagline, “[She] decided to try FBLA because Mr. Liebel came to [her] and said it would be a good thing for [her], and to try it out so [she] just went for it.” Brown on the other hand, tried FBLA because he, “wants to go to college for business, and [he] knew this would be something that could help [him] in the long run.”

     Some people participated in the competition in groups, or individually, but picking their topic was more based on their interests and/or skill sets. Brown said, “[He] took more classes in business management, so [he] felt more experienced with that topic.” Travaligne chose her event because “being a teenager, [they] know a lot about social media, so it came pretty natural to [her and Wright].” 

     Both Brown and Travaligne agreed that state competition will probably be more difficult than the county level, but they felt prepared for regionals and are ready for states.