Seventy-seven Mount Pleasant High School members of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) competed at the State Leadership Conference at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock on March 1-3 with one student qualifying for Nationals. The conference featured 3,072 in attendance with 2,636 of those being high school students. The remaining included board members, advisors, guests and middle school students, an increase of 500 students from the year before.

MPHS senior, Alston (AJ) Jeff placed 4th at state in Network Design and advanced to the National Conference. This is the eleventh straight year for MPHS FBLA to have a National Qualifier for a total of 103 in that time span. Network Design challenges members to demonstrate their understanding of networking concepts and infrastructure through an objective test and a role play scenario. Members apply their knowledge to design, implement, and troubleshoot network solutions that meet the needs of a business or organization.

Additionally, the following placed in the top 15 in their events:

-Sage Jordan—6th place in Intro to Public Speaking

-Joshua Bello, Isaac Flores, Juan Gallegos—9th place in Coding and Programming

-Makayla Mather, Aidan Perez, Alfredo Santillan—10th place in Website Coding and Development

-Dalia Balderas, Erick Bernardi, Alba Zeqaj—10th place Website Design

-Aloani Laboy, Isabella Furnish, Charity Prater—13th place Computer Game and Simulation Programming

-April Lozano, Zoe Zuniga—14th place Intro to Social Media Strategy

Other awards and honors included senior, Jennifer Luna, who was recognized as the Who’s Who award recipient for the MPHS chapter. Junior Isaac Hernandez was elected the State Area 6 Vice President, becoming the fifth-ever representative from MPHS. Outgoing Area 6 State Vice President, senior Alessandro Greco, was recognized on stage with a plaque and remembrance video. Freshman Sage Jordan wrapped up her term as the first-ever Texas Middle Level Ambassador and was recognized on stage with a gift. And MPHS Adviser and FBLA State Board President John Whitten was re-elected to the state Board of Directors and recognized with a gift at an Adviser’s Reception.

Also recognized at the area meeting were State Board President/Area 6 Board Member John Whitten, outgoing Area 6 President Jennifer Luna, outgoing Area 6 Parliamentarian Wendy Valdez, and incoming Area 6 President Camauri Adams.

MPHS Alumni Sophie Greco and Diya Desai were part of the first FBLA State Intern program and served in various roles throughout the conference.

“MPHS FBLA had a great experience at state as students had the opportunity to go up against the best from around Texas,” said MPHS Advisor, John Whitten. “Alston Jeff did a great job of qualifying for Nationals and will be a great representative for MPHS. AJ was ninth after objective testing, but he had an awesome presentation to finish in the top four in state. I am excited for AJ to have the opportunity to compete on the national level, and for Isaac Hernandez to represent Area 6 as Texas holds the National Conference this year in San Antonio. We were fortunate to have many underclassmen place in the top 10 and look forward to them competing next year.”

The FBLA National Leadership Conference is set for June 27-July 3 in San Antonio, TX. MPHS FBLA advisors are Whitten, Shanta Lockett, Raquel Yanez, and Tracy Porter.

Photos:

1: MPHS FBLA Advisor, John Whitten (left), with the first-ever FBLA Middle Level Ambassador, MPHS freshman Sage Jordan

2: Who’s Who award recipient for the MPHS chapter, Jenny Luna

3: Outgoing Area 6 State Vice President, MPHS senior Alessandro Greco (left) and incoming Area 6 State Vice President, MPHS junior Isaac Hernandez

4: MPHS State FBLA competitors

5: MPHS senior and FBLA National Qualifier, Alston Jeff (left), and MPHS FBLA Advisor John Whitten

6: MPHS FBLA Advisor John Whitten (left) and incoming Area 6 President and MPHS junior Camauri Adams.