Middletown High School’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter is preparing to send up to 37 members to the State Leadership Conference, held in Baltimore from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8.
FBLA is a student organization aimed at helping students develop professionally and to provide opportunities for enhancement in career exploration.
“We help students explore their passions in the field of business through competitive events,” said Logan Bohn, chapter officer. Members can participate in numerous competitive events, with a choice of either presenting a presentation or taking an objective test. The top four in each event from regionals advance to states.
Middletown’s FBLA chapter faced low numbers in membership after the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the chapter was small, with only 35 members, the chapter was able to accomplish a community wide service project, “Crohn’s Crusaders.”
The chapter also sent four members to the National Leadership Conference, with two members placing the top 10.
After coming off of a successful year, the Middletown FBLA chapter doubled in numbers this year, due to various factors: “We’ve got a lot of dedicated officers, and we’ve done really well at conferences, and I think we’ve advertised it very well on social media,” said Bohn.
Officers aimed to reach underclassmen members, so that the chapter continues to flourish after the current officers graduate. “We hope to get a lot of our new recruits to love FBLA and continue next year,” said officer Oliver Chase.
Thirty-seven members from Middletown’s chapter placed top four at the Regional Leadership Conference held at Urbana High School on Nov. 23.
Chapter officer Aidan McCrohan said, “With a lot more people in the chapter, you get to bring in your friends, and you’re even more inspired to continue working on business projects and studying concepts that you enjoy.” Attending conferences with peers who share the same passions can be exciting as well as enriching.
Middletown FBLA is excited to plan projects with the help of all the new members. “Well, the more students we reach the more advocates we’ll have,” said Chase.
Having a strong group of returning members and an eager group of new members has brought a new feel to the chapter. “I feel like this year in FBLA everyone is closer, and since we have returning members, everyone seems to know each other better,” said returning member Austin Murphy.
