Seven Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) members will be competing at FBLA nationals in Orlando, Florida this summer. These students qualified for nationals at their state competition on April 6 in events from broadcast journalism to business law.
Aarushi Bhagath, junior, Arya Kandaswamy, junior, Sripriya Ravella, junior and president of FBLA, Vishwesswaran Gopal, junior, Manjusha Peddireddy, junior, Grace Sun, junior, and Sushant Kesavan, sophomore, will compete in a variety of events at the FBLA National Leadership Conference from June 29 through July 2.
“I’m most excited to just meet new people from all over the country that are also interested in the same thing that I am,” Kandaswamy said. “I’m gonna learn a lot from those workshops, the national ones, I’m guessing [they are] probably better than the state ones. So I can go to those workshops and make connections with the adults too. So it’s good for jobs and stuff.”
Besides the opportunities for networking, getting feedback from experienced judges, and attending workshops, students like Ravella are looking forward to visiting Florida.
“I think the exciting part is being able to go to Universal with my friends. Not only do you get to meet so many business professionals you get to just network with so many people from like all over the country so that’s exciting,” Ravella said.
As an FBLA member for the past three years, Ravella’s involvement has included serving as secretary for her sophomore year and president this year. Her commitment to business goes beyond FBLA though, Ravella started her own business selling a two in one sauce bottle. Bhagath’s FBLA experience will also tie into her future career.
“I want to go into international business. I thought the public speaking is definitely important,” Bhagath said. “Even if you’re not going directly into marketing like in the business world, you have to be able to communicate effectively.”
Along with the important skills students learn, according to Kandaswamy, the club is enjoyable.
“I think it’s really fun. I think everyone should join it. Even if you don’t do well it’s still [a] very fun experience. And you still can just hang out with your friends at state. You can just go wherever you want [and] do whatever you want all day,” Kandaswamy said. “I think it’s probably one of the best clubs in the school.”
