A few Atoms made it onto the podium at the recent Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) competition at Oakton High School. Of the 10 students who attended, six placed in the top three of their respective category and two will be moving on to the State Leadership Conference (SLC) on April 7 and 8 in Reston, Virginia.

The two students moving on to the SLC are Sebastian Delgadillo and Abdullah Saif, who placed first in the Banking and Financial Services competition.

“To prepare for the SLC and [National Leadership Conference] Sebastian and Saif will continue to study because they will take another [test] at the SLC,” FBLA Advisor Albert Steppe said. “If they are in the top number of students to get the highest score they will present a case study in front of the judges but it will be difficult to know what the judges will ask them in a case study for Banking and Financial Systems.”

Senior, FBLA President, Bitania Endalkachew placed second in her category, Impromptu Speaking, missing the state cut off by a hair. Though she would’ve liked to make it further she stills looks back at the competition as a great learning experience.

“I learned more about the process,” Endalkachew said. “It was interesting talking to FBLA members in many different schools and [it] definitely widened my perspective of FBLA.”

The 10 students who represented the Annandale Chapter of FBLA were just a small portion of the very large club. Students who competed either volunteered for a specific category or were recommended to compete by a teacher.

“Some students were shown a list of competitions which interest them and made their choice,” Steppe said. “Others were selected by one of the business teachers if we felt they would do well in a particular competition.”

Signing up was the easy part; students who wished to compete had to prepare in an effort to ensure success.

“Students used various reference books and material provide by the FBLA Advisers (Albert Steppe, Howard Dwyer and Jerry Dwyer),” Steppe said. “Students also used some of their own materials as well as the internet.”

Endalkachew prepared a lot at home by reviewing past competitions and using internet tools.

“To prepare I found a topic generator and made myself do speeches on the spot for a bit and the weekend before that was all I did,” Endalkachew said. “Then I looked at videos of other FBLA contestants to see what the judges wanted.”

The efforts made by the entirety of the Atoms at the competition was tremendous and something Steppe is proud of.

“I feel the students gave a valiant effort. They each successfully competed in their competition and believed in their abilities to win,” Steppe said. “They are each a winner just for trying because you never know the outcome until to take the first step and continue to press forward.”