Diamond Bar High School’s Future Business Leadership of America competed in the annual Speaking Section Conference held at Los Osos High School on Feb. 8.

Although most of the experienced members couldn’t participate in the competition, the team won fourth place in sweepstakes. They will advance to the state competition, which will be held April 23-26.

“The most memorable moment was probably the awards ceremony, specifically the thrill of standing on that stage waiting,” junior treasurer Erin Zhou said. “I get more excited and anxious the longer we stand there.”

The team competed in the Inland Section, which consists of Walnut, Los Osos and Centennial high schools.

The competition includes three different events: 100-question objective tests, role play and performance events consisting of impromptu speaking and mock job interviews. Only the top six in objective tests, top two in performance and top four in team can move up to the state competition.

The members choose their sections a couple of months in advance, and they also implement the mentor system, where members who were previous state qualifiers are divided into small groups with a specific topic such as economics, business calc and business communication in hand. To prepare, they find the materials needed to study for their small group.

“Right before our events, we had our heads buried in practice tests and textbooks cramming information as a last minute attempt to get information in for our tests,” George said.

Before the team went to the competition, they held another meeting to review their topics which were economics, public speaking, business communications and business ethics.

During the competition, senior president Courtney Chan competed in the public speaking and business plan events. She placed second in the public speaking event which allowed her to move to the state competition. She also placed third in the impromptu speaking event.

Another contestant junior Akash George placed first in Intro to Business Procedures and fifth in his team event.

“After my test, I was concerned that I missed some of the computer application questions as I haven’t taken computer systems, but it turned out fine,” George said.