Beginning March 9, FBLA members will travel to the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno to compete in their State Business Leadership Conference. 

Besides competing in their chosen events, members will also have the opportunity to attend workshops.

“The state level board members will be hosting workshops to introduce the general members to more information about the business world,” President Aryana Boyd said. “A lot of the time, they also have colleges hosting stuff as well, so we get to meet with representatives to learn about the college level chapter of FBLA that they offer. It gives students a more insightful look about how FBLA pertains to them outside of highschool, whether that’s participating in the college chapters or just applying skills they’ve learned into their lives when they get a job.”

The hotel hosting the conference offers various amenities that the students are welcome to take advantage of, as well as participate in activities the conference offers.

“We encourage members to work hard on their competitions before the conference so that they can enjoy all of the activities offered at the hotel,” Vice President of State Relations Isabella Reyes said. “They have escape rooms, laser tag, bowling, an arcade, and other fun stuff for the members to enjoy. FBLA also implements some of their own activities such as interactive workshops, scavenger hunts with prizes, and in the previous years they have done a dance for members to attend.”

The board encountered some difficulties setting up the trip, so they’re relieved everything worked out in the end.

“There was definitely a problem with the chaperones,” Boyd said. “Since, teachers have to be paid to be a chaperone, which comes out of our club funds. We didn’t have enough to bring the amount of teachers we needed for the amount of students that signed up for the trip, so cuts had to be made to balance out the teacher student ratio. The district also cut funding for these types of trips, so the amount they covered in years past was changed to just buses and registration. The money cost just ended up being a huge headache.”

Even after facing mishaps, the club was still able to approve a large number of members to go on the trip, even having more members attend than years prior.

“Mr. Barranco was able to get another fourteen people on the trip than we had planned on after the budget issues,” Vice President Carmen Yap said. “We had one bus load full of people last year, about forty, and in years prior we had even less than that. So, I’m glad that even after everything happened, we still have a really large, solid group of people ready to compete. The students that were able to go on the trip were also the most passionate in the club, so I’m very hopeful we’ll have some wins this year.”

Club adviser Ronald Barranco feels the conference is a great opportunity for members to learn fundamental skills that will benefit them in their future careers.

“They’re learning different business skills and industry standards depending on the events they’re participating in,” Barranco said. “Not only that, but mandatory professional dress is also a real world expectation they’ll have to follow later in life. The conference also requires them to act and represent themselves, the club, and the school in a professional manner, which teaches them how to properly act in a business setting.” 

Members will also be supporting Reyes in her election for FBLA State board.

“I first ran during my sophomore year and it was the first time the chapter even had someone run, so I never really had a lot of guidance with it since it was something completely new to our advisor and other members,” Reyes said. “However they have always provided me with their support and that pushed me a long way. Despite losing last year, I’m excited to be running again this year. In order to prepare, it took a lot of self improvement and polishing on my portfolio to be a presentable candidate. It also took a lot of practice with interview questions and self reflection to determine my weaknesses and strong points.”

With all the time and effort put into their events, students like junior Gurnoor Gill are looking forward to seeing their work come to fruition. 

“The competition that I’m participating in is visual design and public service announcement,” Gill said. “In that category, my group created a visual design of the farmers market, choosing to focus it on a cherry farmer with a rustic, pink aesthetic. We also created a public service announcement that we decided the topic was going to be about healthy habits. It’s my first time competing, and I can definitely say that while my competition wasn’t the hardest to complete, I still put a lot of hard work into it. I hope we can win.”

Being the last year for her to attend, Boyd sympathizes with the general senior members who will also be participating for the very last time.

“It’s really bittersweet to be going this year especially,” Boyd said. “It’s weird to think that this is really the end of my FBLA career in high school, but it’s comforting to know that they have a college level for it as well. FBLA has been a really big part of my highschool life. Knowing that I had a community of people that I could be myself around and had the same values that I did when it came to the club, really just made it such a great memory for me. Leaving that and Mr. Baranco behind this upcoming year, as I’ve worked with him since I was a freshman, will definitely be hard.”