Presentations and other competitive events took place at Robert Morris University for the FBLA club January 9, and the results may (not) shock you.
To get a chance to compete at Hershey this Spring, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) members picked from a variety of competitions with other schools fighting for the chance at states.
However, the morning of the RMU field trip welcomed a two-hour delay for all the schools in the area, throwing a wrench into the college’s hosting plans. RMU swiftly had to rearrange the day to ensure students could present and get ready in their appropriate business attire (never thought I would have to wear a suit to school before).
Even though the trip would be shortened, Beaver Area’s FBLA club under the leadership of Mrs. Lori Guandolo left after first period to compete and learn their results at RMU.
Students were welcomed by RMU staff, given name tags, and sent to a large conference room where a speaker’s presentation already was underway.
The RMU staff wanted students to spread out to tables that didn’t have students from their respective groups and collaborate. This plan wasn’t foolproof though and I still ended up at a table with freshman Daniel Wang (and I even just so happened to sit with a coworker).
Each speaker had to quickly go over what they taught at Robert Morris and emphasize how that aspect of business will come back later in life. Accounting, marketing, and other business fundamentals were discussed by the instructors who came from all walks of life.
Since the RMU cafeteria wasn’t close to the building hosting the FBLA event, students could pay $10 for a simple boxed lunch. Let me tell you, though, that turkey cheddar sandwich was the real surprise of the day.
Afterwords, RMU was able to fit in just one workshop which required students to sell a shoe from three pairs at the front of the room.
Students had to write down marketing pitches like Instagram hashtags, slogans, and setting a price that would fit the shoes best according to actual prices given by QR codes provided.
The sneakers that my group chose were white Jordan’s with a nice, simple blue streak running through. What do shoes have? Soles. What do (most) people have? Souls. Thus “Soles” were created: shoes so comfortable that they take care of your soul.
Well that genius marketing plan wasn’t good enough to win, but at least a table that had FBLA junior Edward Quillian won. The prize was an RMU string bag filled with notebooks and business books.
Voting for the region secretary and president also occurred at Robert Morris where junior Elizabeth Paskey delivered a great speech for her run at region 10 secretary. Schools each selected two students to be voting delegates and I was one of the two for Beaver Area.
What was I going to do? Not vote for the only Beaver Area candidate running? Whenever I received the ballot, I realized that the other secretary candidate was sitting right across from me. Another girl at the table told this other candidate good luck. Little did she know.
For the last half an hour, the students who qualified for states were announced along with how each student/group did in each event. Amazingly, 15 out of 18 students qualified for the state competition in April.
The competitors and their events that qualified were: sophomore Eleni Avdellas (first for Intro to Information Technology), juniors Sophie Burd and Quinn O’Leary (first for Business Ethics), senior Cali Coups (second for Intro to Event Planning), Ryan Groff (third for agribusiness), juniors Heath Korcinsky, Elizabeth Paskey, and senior Luke Paskey (first for Sales Presentation), juniors Mia Malcom and Ava Mrkonja (first for Social Media Strategies), sophomore Lanie Malobabich (fourth for Intro to Business Communication), Quillin and seniors Joe Mollura and yours truly (first for Marketing), and Wang (first for Intro to Financial Math).
Compared to regional FBLA competitions, Hershey is no joke; more people truly know what they are talking about which may prove challenging for Beaver Area’s FBLA.