Paving their way to become future entrepreneurs, Diamond Bar High School’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club recently competed in the State Leadership Conference (SLC). This event took place at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel, spanning from April 11th to 14th.
Every spring, the SLC board allows FBLA students that did well enough in the Inland Section Leadership Conference (ISLC) back in February to attend the conference, where each student or team competes in different business-related events, including network design, data analysis, business management, public speaking and more. This year, the DBHS team earned ninth place with overall sweepstakes, meaning the school that did the best overall—being one of the only schools that got selected to receive awards and gain a placement to the next level of competition, NLC (National Leadership Conference).
During SLC, FBLA students from over twenty different schools across the state gathered to participate in various activities, competitions, workshops and networking events. Other optional courses at SLC involved presentations, projects, solutions and performances that each of the students, either individually or in a group, present to the judges for their competitively relevant topic.
This year, sophomore Emme Huang placed second for her digital animation project on financial literacy during the conference. This allowed her to be selected as a communications intern for the FBLA committee in which she was able to showcase her outstanding communication skills by sending out monthly newsletters to the team and making sure they were in check with their schedules. Along with that, she was recently appointed to be the DBHS FBLA’s 2024-2025 finance director.
“Throughout this club, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with like minded individuals who share my passion for business and entrepreneurship,” Huang said. “Participating in FBLA events and competitions has allowed me to expand my knowledge, develop new skills and gain practical experience in various areas of business.”
Junior co-president Grace Wen, a communications manager, also emerged triumphant by placing seventh for the Local Chapter Business Report event, which involved the drafting of a 17 page essay about the importance of leadership, business partnership, public relations and more. As the essay was submitted before ISLC, the writing was to pass and was therefore able to be presented again in SLC.
“Through competitive events, leadership positions, projects and real-world experiences, I was able to enhance my leadership while gaining many skills like public speaking, project management, teamwork, as well as knowledge about the professional world,” Wen said.
Accompanying Wen in FBLA’s leadership is junior co-president Maddie Wong, who is an external relations manager. Wong was able to place seventh as well for the business report, along with Wen at SLC. Even with the team winning 9th place and overall sweepstakes at the competition, however, Wong expressed her disappointment over the results.
“Winning ninth place at SLC was honestly disappointing because I felt like our group, along with myself, worked really hard this year, but we didn’t get as much recognition as we deserved,” Wong said, “But overall, I am proud of all the new things I’ve tried…we’ve been able to double our membership and send over 35 kids to nationals.”
Competitors that received a placement of fourth place or higher in their event this SLC are qualified for the National Leadership Conference, set in Orlando, Florida from June 29 to July 2.
