Toni Sherrell: Contributor
On Monday, June 26, the Lafayette High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter traveled to Atlanta, Ga., to compete at the FBLA National Conference. Lafayette FBLA understood they had a challenge ahead of them, as their 11 competitors stood alongside 14,000 other attendees from China, South Africa and Canada, among others. Jaxon Murphy and Justin Swinson, Jr. kicked off the competition on Tuesday afternoon, June 27, in the Middle Level Marketing Mix Challenge with their “Stick and Sweep.” The challenge tasked participants with creating a brand new service or product. The students then had to use their marketing skills and business knowledge to present their product to the judges. For the competition, Murphy and Swinson created the “Stick and Sweep.” It consists of a dust pan which suctions to the ground to eliminate dust lines and bending over, along with a broom featuring an adjustable handle. Next to compete were Elisabeth Cook and Aubrey Sarmiento in Business Ethics. Prior to the conference, the two had to submit a one page summary of their analysis on a given ethical problem. Then, at the conference, the two took an objective test and presented their findings to the judges. This year's topic was the issue of an art club not having the funds to purchase quality supplies for an art fair, and whether or not the club should use lower quality materials or keep using the materials they normally do. On Wednesday afternoon, June 28, Wyatt Chandler, Durand Driver and Harrison Jackson competed in Introduction to Business Presentation. The topic for this year was to persuade the school board to help sponsor a group of students to attend a National Leadership Conference. The three demonstrated professional presentation skills and speaking abilities while using marketing techniques they've learned. Then, Logan Byrd, Jayden Davis and Hannah Murray competed in Broadcast Journalism by presenting a live news broadcast to the judges. Their topics included a discussion of global news in relation to economics, a review of the stock market and the introduction of this week’s entrepreneur. They had to go into the community to complete their research and interviews, all the while practicing their best broadcast techniques. Rounding out the competition was middle schooler Fhelix Hernandez, who took on the challenge of taking an objective test in Running an Effective Meeting. This test included parliamentary procedure practices and other meeting etiquettes. Objective tests at the national level are one of the most challenging competitions. Not only is there no final round, students who compete in objective testing are not informed on whether they are in the top 15 or not until the night of awards. Hernandez showed up and showed out at the FBLA National Conference, though. He participated in FBLA for his first time this year as an eighth grader, and returned home with a second place national award. Although the presentation teams did not make it to the finals, Lafayette FBLA's advisor, Toni Sherrell, is extremely proud of their hard work and dedication to the chapter. Sherrell and the chapter would like to thank their sponsors, the community, administration and families who helped them accomplish these great achievements.