Thirty-one Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students have qualified to compete in events at the state FBLA Conference on April 29-30 in Little Rock.
Twenty-six students earned recognition at the 2024 FBLA District IV Spring Conference that was held on Feb. 7 at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope/Texarkana in Hope, earning the opportunity to compete in the state event. The competitive events included either an objective subject test, performance/presentation or a combination of an objective test and a performance component. An additional five students participated in events that automatically qualify for the state competition.
Students who placed in the top six of objective test events and the top five in performance/product events qualified to compete at the state conference. Students who are registered to compete in the Coding and Programming, Digital Animation and Network Design are state-only events.
The following students earned recognition at the district conference and are eligible to compete in the state competition:
- Accounting I: Jena Brown of Hope, second place;
- Advertising: Maddox Jessup of Ulm, first place;
- Business Calculations: Sarah Pham of Hot Springs, first place;
- Business Communications: Samiya Wilson of Little Rock, sixth place;
- Computer Problem Solving: Kavan Patel of Sherwood, first place;
- Cyber Security: Ryan Chang of Sherwood, third place;
- Economics: Nathan Alam of White Hall, second place;
- Health Care Administration: Meera Patel of Hot Springs, first place;
- Impromptu Speaking: Padraigh Easley of Conway, first place;
- Introduction to Financial Math: Nathan Grady of Blytheville, second place;
- Introduction to Public Speaking: Tristan Henson of Conway, fourth place;
- Introduction to Social Media Strategy: Miranda Lee of Conway, second place;
- Journalism: Rosie Garner of White Hall, first place;
- Network Infrastructure, Therese Ella Ambos of Greenbrier, first place;
- Personal Finance: Kaitleen Toh of White Hall; fifth place;
- Public Policy and Advocacy: Katherine Quintanilla of Nashville, second place;
- Securities and Investment: Grace Conn of Van Buren, second place;
- Sports and Entertainment Management: Team of Cassie Davis of Marion and Lakaylah Hall of Little Rock, second place;
- Virtual Design: Team of Karilynn Arellano of Mineral Springs, Jonathan Matul-Mendez of Decatur and Kaiyan Yu of Benton, second place;
- Website Coding and Development: Rene Ramirez of Pearcy, first place; and
- Website Design: Team of Hailey Judkins of Benton and Tori Strawn of North Little Rock, first place.
Kelvin Orduna of Huntsville, Jaime Hernandez of Decatur, Justin Nicholson of Pine Bluff, Alan Ye of Conway and Norberto Garcia of Nashville qualified for the competition through the state-only events.
Arrellano is serving as the District IV FBLA President and State Vice President for 2-23-24. She was elected to serve as the District IV FBLA Vice President for 2024-2025.
At the state competition, students will have the opportunity to qualify to compete at FBLA Nationals, which will be held in Orlando, Fla., this summer.