Courtesy of Balery Quiñonez

Informational meetings served as the premier place for FBLA members to learn more about competing.

One of the largest student organizations in the United States, Future Business Leaders of America is founded on the idea of providing students with the opportunity to prepare for careers in the business world. The club strives to project the same values in Gables through an array of challenges and competitions. They exhibit a range of formats, allowing Cavaliers to compete in tasks that demand quick thinking, objective tests, and challenges where teams or individuals create presentations to show to judges. After months of preparation, FBLA club members at Gables have successfully polished their projects for the upcoming Districts convention on on Jan. 18.

“We have Objective Testing Events for those who are more reserved and don’t enjoy presenting, but then we have Performance Events for our public speakers, and also events that require both a test and a presentation. So FBLA has a lot to choose from with or without friends to join,” senior Balery Quiñonez said.

Competitions are available to all FBLA members who have paid their club dues, offering the opportunity to compete regardless of prior experience. To make sure that Cavaliers are receiving the assistance they need to succeed in their respective events, the FBLA board takes special care to aid entrants with their events.

“We have been preparing the competitors by providing study material and having board members walk them through the process. There are also in-school competitions being held to help prepare them for the actual competition,” senior Alejandro Diaz said.

Each competition gave competitors the chance to display their skills individually or in a team, such as leadership, communication skills or technology. Group presentations highlighted the ability of FBLA members to come up with innovative applications of the business acumen they learn from the club.

“This year, Mia [Aguilar] and I are doing Graphic Design, so basically we have to come up with our own business and advertise it in different ways, whether that be social media, billboards, brochures or more things that we can come up with to [market] the business itself,” senior Kassandra Canales said.

First time challengers often partner with veterans of the FBLA circuit to provide a mix of fresh ideas as well as competition experience. Combined with in-school simulations of competitions, the goal is to give Cavaliers an idea of the conditions of the actual presentations and the associated etiquette and regulations.

Club members have refined their events, aiming for top five to advance to State competitions. Helping the Cavaliers get used to the idea of presenting, club’s board members spent hours meeting with the participants and simulating the conditions of an FBLA panel of judges. The FBLA competition board researched and created example case studies to prepare test takers, and one on one guidance was also provided to the contestants, with regular progress checks and feedback.

“We had a lot of meetings with the FBLA board. We had to talk to Mr. Pico, Mr. Reisert. We had the FBLA board checking up on us, looking at our presentation. Matthew [Castano] helped us a lot, seeing that he did do this competition last year, and we were also calling each other when we had free time to discuss the project and how to improve it… Our project was probably changed about 20 times,” senior Mia Aguilar said.

As competing Cavaliers gear up to face other high school FBLA chapters in District 26 at MDC Kendall Campus on Jan. 18, the participants and FBLA board reflect proudly on their projects spanning months of hard work, hoping to continue their winning streak and advance to States for the third year in a row.