Written by Tone Yao Lee

Gunn offers over 100 clubs on campus. While all of them are active during the school year, there are certain standouts that continue to shine over summer. Though relatively new on campus, Gunn’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) has taken the competitions by storm. From June 29 to July 2, several Gunn students competed and placed at FBLA’s National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Atlanta, Georgia in individual and team events in the hopes of winning national-level recognition for excelling in business-related fields.

FBLA is a student business organization that prepares students for the future through learning, leadership opportunities and giving back to the community.

Junior Joseph Ng is currently in Vice President of Gunn FBLA. He is extremely proud of the progress Gunn FBLA has demonstrated over the past two years.. “This past year, Gunn FBLA won more awards than many other larger chapters,” Ng said. “This summer, almost 20 Gunn students attended the National Leadership Conference in Atlanta. I and three others placed in the top 10 in our events.”
NLC is a highly competitive competition that only select members of FBLA could qualify for if they did well in the State Leadership Conference SLC, which was in April. Four teams were chosen from each state to go to the prestigious event, which hosted 200 total teams from around the world.

Junior Max Wang participated in one of the teams that was chosen to represent California. “Our goal was to place in the top ten, and we were able to place ninth,” Wang wrote in an email. “I participated in Network design, which was a team event. From going to NLC, I was able to strengthen social skills and become more culturally aware from meeting people from all across the country.”

Both Ng and Wang won fifth and ninth in their events, respectively. Both prepared several weeks in advance to study for tests and/or presentations that ultimately allowed them to qualify for their national awards.

According to Ng and Wang, seeing their hard work pay off was one of the most rewarding parts of the experience. “I also learned that if you put your mind to something, you can achieve it, no matter how impossible it may seem,” Wang wrote. “I did not know what network design was when I went into the competition in states, but was able to, with the help of my team, [place] ninth in Nationals.”

Although Gunn FBLA has been performing well over the past year, Ng has even greater expectations for the future. “We want to see members succeed in competitions but also develop leadership and business skills that will promote future success,” Ng said. “I expect Gunn FBLA will grow to become a powerful contender on the local, state and even national level. We want to make a name for Gunn High School.”