April 5, 2025
By Tyler Herman
Staff Writer
Dedication and hard work paid off for members of the Future Business Leaders of America Club, who attended the State Leadership Conference at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City from March 10-12.
At the end of the conference, 16 of LHS’ 63 participating students qualified for nationals, which will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in California from June 28-July 2. To qualify, students had to place in the top four in their event, with some events having over 80 teams.
Spanish teacher Mrs. Silvelo, who co-advises the FBLA Club with business and technology teacher Ms. Jankowski, said she is proud of the club members’ dedication, which led to their strong results.
“The students [had] been preparing [from] mid-January to the day of the trip, which included staying in for lunch every day or after school [and] having meetings… to finish projects,” Silvelo said.
She said students were able to select the events in which they competed.
“Upperclassmen tried to strategize a little bit more and see which events they thought they would do really well in,” Silvelo said.
Senior FBLA President Michael Longo said he wanted to end his high school career on a high note by qualifying for nationals for a fourth time.
“The opportunity to compete against the best in the [country] is an opportunity like no other,” Longo said. “I have gone the past three years, and I wanted redemption [for] not winning anything the last three years.”
Longo placed first in the Education Service open event with seniors Anthony Amaro, Shawn Bellenger and Isaac Camilo. Longo, Amaro and Bellenger also placed third in Digital Video Production.
He said he and his groupmates especially impressed themselves with the quality of their Digital Video Production presentation.
“My performance in the event exceeded expectations. I was blown away by the hard work and dedication my partners and I had contributed and committed to the presentation and event,” Longo said.
Junior Rebecca Ruiz, a three-year FBLA member who earned second place in Broadcast Journalism with her partner, junior Joseph Brennen, said she is glad to have competed in states.
“I have gone to states every year and knew that I would have fun. I also knew I could make a good enough project to place,” Ruiz said.
She said she especially enjoyed participating in the award ceremony at the conclusion of states.
“As much as I was nervous, once [Joseph and I] were on stage, I could feel the adrenaline rush, and I knew we would be placing and going to nationals,” Ruiz said.
She said she and Brennen feel confident heading into nationals for their second consecutive year.
“We will do the best we can, possibly even better than states,” Ruiz said.
Sophomore Nicholas Rizzo, who competed in states for the past two years and will be attending nationals for the first time, earned a second-place award in Social Media Strategies with his partners, sophomores Christina Mizeski and Elarya Megally.
“The opportunity to compete against the best in the [country] is an opportunity like no other.”
Rizzo said his group faced a significant obstacle during the days leading up to states.
“My group and I were supposed to be in the Sales Presentation category, but four days before the trip, we received notice that we were doing Social Media Strategies,” Rizzo said.
He said his group members had to cram to prepare for their new event.
“Our original presentation was completely scrapped, and we had to start over from the very beginning. This was because our new event had nothing to do with the other,” Rizzo said. “On top of creating a new presentation, we had to write and remember an entire script in just four days.”
Rizzo said he was concerned about taking on a new event with so little time to prepare.
“When I found out about the mix-up, I had no faith that we would succeed at all. However, my teammates, specifically Elarya, stayed positive and motivated the rest of the group,” Rizzo said.
He said he attributes his group’s success to the confidence and poise each member exhibited during the presentation.
“Despite all the obstacles our team faced, we were all very well-spoken, so our delivery of our material was probably our best attribute,” Rizzo said.
He said his group is now focused on preparing for nationals.
“We are all booming with excitement [about] going to California,” Rizzo said. “What makes going to California so exciting is the fact that I did not think [we] would make it there, so going there is sort of like a celebration.”
