by Haley Pereira
The Future Business Leaders of America took to the road on Saturday, February 27th for an educational and competitive Bay Section Conference. Departing at six in the morning, FBLA arrived at their destination, Lynbrook High School in San Jose, at eight a.m.
Thirteen schools, a total of 528 students, were present at the conference. Petaluma High School was one of the smaller groups and had only fourteen students participating in the competitions. Those who went to the conference included freshmen Nina Breece, Jaz Gonzalez, Cory Echols, and Ricky Singleton the Sports Manager, sophomores Guadalupe Garcia and Alba Aragon, juniors Cyprien Pearson the Secretary, Katie Breece the Vice President, Scott Vanderlind the President, Lindsey Strain the Historian, Allison Hall the Public Representative, Justin Schneider, and Patrick Kiernan the Parliamentarian, and senior Seiri Aragon.
The Bay Section Conference started off with an opening ceremony where the students were introduced to the officers in charge. Then the students took business related tests with groups or individually. There were two sessions throughout the day so everyone took two tests. Breakfast and lunch were provided, and after the two sessions/tests were over, there was a great deal of break time so that the tests could be graded. There were games to play, TV to watch, and even a talent and fashion show.
Seth Sternberg, a speaker from the instant messaging business Meebo, spoke at the closing ceremony. He gave tips on how to be successful in the business field. He encouraged networking while in school and said that when trying to start a business, two heads are better than one.
The award ceremonies were next, but PHS didn’t stay since it was getting late, although many students were successful. Senior Seiri Aragon and sophomore Alba Aragon won tenth place in Global Business, juniors Katie Breece, Cyprien Pearson, and Guadalupe Garcia won fifth in Entrepreneurship, juniors Allison Hall, Lindsey Strain, and Justin Schneider won sixth in Management Decision Making, and junior Scott Vanderlind won sixth in Computer Problem Solving and ninth in Technology Concepts.