On Dec. 23, 2020, over 40 students were announced to have placed in their respective business competitions as a part of the Future Business Leaders of America’s (FBLA’s) Northern Central NJ Regional Competition. 

“I placed in entrepreneurship, and in that category we analyzed business scenarios of startups companies and how to problem solve with the press, public, and general solutions to issues a new business may face,” junior Sofia Ciullo said. “I joined FBLA because I have an affinity for business and I am also involved in DECA. It made sense for me to expand my knowledge of business in general.”

FBLA is a national organization, with a chapter at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School (SPFHS). The organization prepares students for business-related endeavors in their future careers and aims to focus on leadership, development, academic competitions, educational programs, membership benefits, community service and awards & recognition. 

On Dec. 13 and 14, 2020, many members of FBLA competed in regional competitions based on various business principles. The regional competition consisted of a test in which students with the highest eight scores in the categories are eligible for the state competition. 

One of those categories was international business. 

“For international business, we needed to memorize many terms and concepts in trade of goods and services, GDPs, transactions, organizations and companies that help with these sort of actions between nations,” junior Diana Stinkova said. “I had to study a lot about the bigger nations like China, United States and Europe and not only their individual economies and the processes. It really opened my eyes on the diversity of each nation, as well as the thousands of concepts that revolve around the companies that serve an average day citizen in America.” 

This year, a record number of SPFHS students will be moving onto the state level of their competitions.