Chipola College Wins at 2024 FBLA

Hundreds of America’s best and brightest Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) college students traveled to Orlando, FL, to compete for an honored spot on stage among the Top-10.

The 2024 FBLA Collegiate (formerly Phi Beta Lambda) National Leadership Conference was held June 24-27 at the Orange County Convention Center. College students from across the United States and various territories attended this exciting conference to enhance their business skills, expand their networks, and compete in business-related events. Students showcased their skills and knowledge in competitive events that involved objective tests, skills tests, prepared reports, interviews, speeches, role play scenarios, and presentations.

Three Chipola students attended the conference:  Chad Mayo (chapter president), Christopher Brockington, and Emmaleigh Presley.  The students, along with Chipola employees Glenda Bethel and Debra Perdue, also assisted in the prep work for the high school/middle school conference, scheduled for the following week (since Florida FBLA was the host state).  Glenda Bethel, adviser, served as a judge for two interesting events:  Public Speaking and Future Business Executive.

As the outgoing Florida Collegiate President, Chad Mayo welcomed all attendees during the Opening Session on Monday night and conducted an interview the next morning with the local Orlando Business TV reporter.  Chad’s opening remarks were followed by the keynote speaker, Gorick Ng, a Harvard-trained career advisor. 

The Awards Ceremony was an exciting event for us as one of our own won FIRST place at this national conference:  

Emmaleigh Presley, 1st Place, Retail Management

Of note, Emmaleigh placed fifth at the Florida state conference in March, not high enough to compete at NLC.  However, one of the Top-4 winners chose not to attend the NLC, which created a spot for Emmaleigh.  During the interim weeks between the two conferences, Emmaleigh studied and researched.  Her awesome efforts paid off!  She not only made it into the Top-10 on stage, she won FIRST place!  The win comes with a statue and $400!

Emmaleigh Presley and Glenda Bethel also won Office Depot cards ($250 each), based on nominations by attending students and advisers.  Office Depot gifted $3,000 that was awarded to six advisers and six students.

As always, Chipola FBLA Collegiate wishes to thank our college community for supporting our travel and competition efforts.  Events such as these enhance our students’ lives and help them transition from college into the work environment.   

For more information about National FBLA, visit: https://www.fbla.org/ or Florida FBLA, visit:   https://www.floridafbla-pbl.com/