By Madi Ivey
Cora Pope and Paola Robles have been upstanding, model students ever since their scholastic beginnings. Their involvement in extracurricular activities spans from sports like basketball and fast pitch to clubs like Teens Against Destructive Decisions (TADD) and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). This year, Paola and Cora will be representing North Beach High School at the National FBLA Competition in Chicago, Illinois.
Cora and Paola started FBLA together during Cora’s freshman and Paola’s sophomore year. The two were encouraged to join the club by Cora’s older sister and Paola’s friend, Marya Pope, a former FBLA member. Cora and Paola agreed to join the club as they thought it would be a good opportunity to make friends, gain valuable experience, and make an impression on future college applications.
From the beginning, both Cora and Paola have enjoyed FBLA. In fact, they say that their enjoyment of the club has only increased over the years.
Both Cora and Paola credit their instructor, Ms. Leighty, with helping them to get to where they are competitively today. “She has been teaching us since middle school,” Paola says, adding that her constant supervision over the years has given them the tools and experience needed to excel in competitions. As neither Paola or Cora participate in any speaking events, much less traveling is required. In fact, all of their tests have been completed at school, proctored by Ms. Leighty and submitted in for competition.
The level of FBLA competition difficulty varies depending on the type of event, but the two agree that for them, Cyber Security is the most difficult and Business Calculations is on the easier end. Cora won the state competition this past year with Word Processing as her subject of choice. Cora took first in state in Word Processing freshman year as well. She will be choosing a different category to compete in later this month when she goes on to nationals.
This year at regionals, the competition to get to state, Cora took first in Word Processing and Paola took second place, guaranteeing them each a place at state. State saw a lot more contenders for the two, but despite these new odds, both agreed that it wasn’t difficult. The test had a typing section, eight different “job” sections, and an online section. “You really just have to know a lot about Microsoft Word,” Paola says. In order to advance to nationals, they had to place in the top four. This time, Paola placed first, and Cora placed second.
The national competition will take place from June 27 to July 3 in Illinois. Both are very excited for Chicago, and for a new experience, well-earned and deserved by both. Because the competition itself is really only four days, the two plan on spending some of their own time doing other things outside of competition. There will be workshops for them to attend with other students, with the purpose of learning more about business, and they will attend lectures led by various guest speakers.
I asked Cora and Paola what they’ve learned from their experiences in FBLA. They both agree that they’ve learned a substantial amount about creating a network, a skill they feel will specifically help them with getting jobs in the future. They’ve also met a lot of really interesting people who’ve shared their personal stories with them. The club has also given them direction for their futures. “I’ve become more outgoing, and it’s made me get more out of my comfort zone,” Cora says. Though neither know exactly what they would like to do with their futures career-wise, Cora says that she feels the math portion of the competitions will help her to succeed with whatever she wants to do in the future. Paola feels that the knowledge she has gained through FBLA could be beneficial to her if she were to open a small business in the future.
Through academic and extracurricular achievement, both Cora and Paola have set themselves up for success, and their involvement in FBLA has certainly helped them to hone their skill for involvement in future career-related avenues.
