Students placed first in three out of five categories at States on March 15 — in just their first year as part of BHMS FBLA.
By Krista Cerminaro
Four Bunker Hill Middle School students are set to compete at the Future Business Leaders of America middle-level National Leadership Conference, after taking first place in three out of five categories at the State Leadership Conference on March 15.
The FBLA program at BHMS is only in its charter year, and the eighth graders will be the first FBLA students at Bunker Hill to compete at a national level, according to FBLA advisor Lori McEntee.
“Our Future Business Leaders was founded because we have a very strong business program at the high school — with DECA and FBLA — so I was looking for a way to kind of bring those programs to the middle level,” McEntee said.
“We’re the first chapter out of three middle schools in the township, and it was just really cool to start it and get so far already,” student Gavin Kim said.
Students Emma Haley and Grace Kim took first place for their community service project presentation, which they called ”Pajamas for Preemies,” Ethan WIlson for the business math and financial literacy written test, and Maeve Fitzgerald for the career exploration written test.
The four will move on to compete in the NLC in Baltimore, from June 28 to July 1.
“It’s kind of like a field trip for being smart, almost,” Wilson said. “I kind of get a reward out of it.”
The business math and financial literacy category covered topics varying from insurance, to the stock market or anything that fell under the financial literacy curriculum, and career exploration covered how to write a resume, the interview process and other job-related topics, according to McEntee. For the community service project and presentation, McEntee said students had more freedom in choosing their specific project.
“We chose March of Dimes — which is the national philanthropy for FBLA — because we actually found out that some of our chapter members [were] premature babies, and our community as a whole in this school has been affected by premature births and miscarriages, so we thought it’d be a good fundraiser for us,” Grace Kim said.
“All of a sudden, it became like, a really personal project for them,” McEntee said. “We could show that we have a personal connection to the fundraiser.”
For the project, FBLA students held a “Pajama Day” fundraiser, charging students $1 to wear PJs to school. The students will present a check at the March for Babies at Rowan University on April 29.
“It was nerve-wracking — it was really scary at first, because we’ve never done a presentation like this before — but after we started presenting we got more comfortable, and it was very beneficial because it’s an experience that we’ll use in the future,” Haley said.
“They have [FBLA] in our high school, so getting started in middle school is a really good opportunity,” Haley continued. “Next year, you have to apply, so it’s really good to say, ‘not only was the FBLA in middle school — but I qualified for States and Nationals.’ And then colleges look at that, so it just kind of builds from here.”
According to McEntee, the students spend at least three days a week with her during their lunch period, preparing for the competitions.
“Every step of the way, I can’t be more proud of them,” McEntee said. “We went from not even knowing what this club was, to winning three events and going to Nationals. In a first year, I think that’s unreal. They’re just the absolute best kids.”
Additionally, the Washington Township Rotary presented the BHMS FBLA with a $500 donation to help the chapter cover expenses.
