After securing high scores at the regional competition, 4 members of the business club participated in the California Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference at the Ontario Convention Center on April 14 and 15. The team had an excellent first showing at the conference with Ray Altenberg qualifying for the national competition.

Senior Kelly Pien and juniors Austen Li, David Yoo and Ray Altenberg competed against students from other California schools on multiple choice tests. There were approximately 3,000 students in total, though they were offered a choice of business topics for their assessment.

Altenberg took the hour long multiple choice test on computer problem solving. “It was not an easy task,” he explained. “There were a lot of questions where you really have to go on a hunch because there’s really no way to study for the broad knowledge you need for it, so it was necessarily not a fun test to take. It took a lot of trusting your instincts.”

Even so, Altenberg was awarded 2nd place. “I was pretty shocked, I didn’t think I did that well, but I was really surprised, super happy to learn about it,” said Altenberg, “It was unexpected but it was awesome to learn that I had done well enough to qualify for nationals.”

“I was a little nervous for them. You know, I think that they studied really hard as soon as we got there,” said business club advisor Matt Sweeney. “They were studying in between workshops, in between events… But in some of these events, there’s not a whole lot to study for, there aren’t a lot of study guides, so it’s kind of like hit or miss.”

“Kelly placed 5th out of her event, so she was just shy of going to nationals and unfortunately, David and Austin had to qualify for the next round and they did not qualify,” said Sweeney.