This past week, April 1st-April 3rd Palisade Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, traveled to the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Denver to compete in the State Competition.
The club had 34 participants qualify to compete at the State level, which is an all-time high for Palisade. After the bus ride, the members immediately changed into their business attire to begin competing in their events. FBLA consists of three competition styles, a presentation, a role play, and a test.
That night, the members attended the opening ceremony, meeting their State Officers and receiving whole-school awards. Palisade received the Peak V award which is the highest award to receive. At the beginning of every school year, FLBA releases a list of tasks worth a certain amount of points, and to receive Peak V, Palisade had to perform enough tasks to reach 600 points. This is the fifth year Palisade has received this award since 2018. Palisade was also recognized for participating in March of Dimes and the Colorado Relief Fund.
On the second day, students received news on whether or not they qualified for the final round of competition, meaning they placed top 15 in their event. If so, members would compete in their event again for a chance to place top ten overall.
The third and final day was the closing ceremony, otherwise known as the awards. To compete at the National level, students must place in the top four for their event. Senior Bailey Edwards earned first place in Accounting II this year, making her a two-time State Champion. Junior Will Neese placed second in Public Policy and Advocacy, making him a two-time National qualifier. In UX Design, Sawyer Jacobson placed fourth and Evan Prosser placed 3rd, qualifying them both for nationals. Finally, Freshman Leo Zhu earned fourth place in Introduction to Programming.
Palisade had a few other students place top ten, leaving them likely to get bumped up for the Nationals.
“This was an amazing year, we had five officially qualify for nationals.” Says FBLA advisor Melisssa Wright. “We had a better year last year in terms of qualifiers for nationals last year, but it was still a great trip. We had a Freshman qualifier which was super exciting.”
The trip wasn’t all business, with beautiful weather allowing for pool time, and access to the basketball, pickleball, mini-golf, and tennis courts. The students also went to a few different malls for shopping and dinner.
The National Competition this year will be held in Orlando, Florida in June 2024. Good job this year Bulldogs, and good luck at Nationals!
