Students at Mira Loma have the opportunity to participate in a myriad of clubs and activities. For those interested in a career in business or developing business skills, participating in Mira Loma’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization may help with achieving these goals.
FBLA is the largest nonprofit, student-directed organization worldwide, with nearly 200,000 members across the globe. Students participate in year-round activities that allow them to engage in community service, attend leadership conferences, and participate in a variety of competition-based events that can be in a written or oral format. Through these activities, members gain invaluable insight into the business world, economics, personal finance, and entrepreneurship. Members also gain leadership, organizational, and public speaking skills. Historically, the Mira Loma FBLA chapter has performed quite well at local, state, and national competitions.
At the most recent California Northern Section Competition, Mira Loma students competed exceptionally and as a result, Mira Loma won the sweepstakes award. This, however, comes as no surprise as FBLA has consistently been winning the sweepstakes award for the past couple of years. The following is a list of students who placed at the competition:
Individual Events
Agribusiness: Zoya Luo (1st), Arka Chattaraj (2nd), Marcel Tuceacov (4th), Yang Teh (6th), Ishan Chattaraj (7th)
Business Calculations: Kian Rahimi (1st), Niraj Nadarasa (2nd), Ganesh Karayi (4th), Ashwath Palavalli (7th), Arav Kanyal (8th)
Business Communications: Evan Yuan (5th), Arahan Lim (9th), Nathan Wang (10th)
Business Law: Aditya Anantaraman (1st), Ishan Chattaraj (3rd), Arka Chattaraj (5th), Jessica Jahja (7th), Riley Wurster (8th)
Computer Problem Solving: Showmen Talukder (2nd), Aditya Anantaraman (3rd), Celina Chen (4th), Raymond Ran (9th), Xin Wu (10th)
Cyber Security: Celina Chen (1st), Xin Wu (3rd), Aston Wiggin (5th), Raymond Ran (6th), Ethan Chang (8th)
Economics: Elyas Nun (1st), Hari Srikanth (2nd), Zoya Luo (3rd), Min Htun (9th)
Health Care Administration: Nicole Hou (3rd), Ethan Chang (6th), Rui Teh (7th)
Insurance & Risk Management: Rui Teh (1st), Daniel Li (2nd), Aniruddh Mohan (4th), Sofia Feliciano (5th), Ian Chung (6th)
Intro to Business Communication: Aasiyah Nuh (1st), Nicole Wang (2nd), Hayden Liu (4th), Nicole Hou (7th), Srivishal Sudharsan (10th)
Intro to Business Concepts: Azalia Delgado-Moore (1st), Steven Yip (2nd), Arvind Kashyap (3rd), Hayden Liu (6th), Aston Wiggin (7th)
Intro to Business Procedures: Ana Banerjee (2nd), Bhavya Mamnani (5th), Sukirtha Iyer (6th), Sreejaa Kambampati (10th)
Intro to FBLA: Leo Guo (3rd), Justin Pham (5th), Benjamin Loeffler (6th), Nicole Wang (7th), Srivishal Sudharsan (10th)
Intro to Finance Math: Leo Guo (1st), Min Htun (2nd), Kian Rahimi (3rd), Aniruddh Mohan (4th), Cristina Doxan (9th)
Intro to Info Tech: Showmen Talukder (1st), Esha Banerjee (3rd), Saketaram Parvatanerni (4th), Marcel Tueacove (5th), Arvind Kashyap (7th)
Personal Finance: Azalia Delgao-Moore (1st), Elissa Matheson (3rd), Arnav Mahendra (4th), Vansh Angi (7th)
Securities & Investments: Daniel Li (1st), Saketaram Parvataneni (2nd), Avansh Angi (3rd), Shrey Gautam (4th), Jasmine Fang (5th)
Supply Chain Management: Justin Pham (1st), Nolan Nguyen (2nd), Niraj Nadarasa (3rd), Nathan Wang (4th), Ian Chung (8th)
Team Events
Business Management 2nd: Nolan Nguyen Sreejaa kambampati, Sukirtha Iyer
Entrepreneurship 1st: Steven Yip, Benjamin Wang, Ganesh Karayi
Hospitality & Event Management 3rd: Diana Lee, Jessica Jahja, Anna Hall
International Business 1st: Ana Banerjee, Sofia Feliciano, Bennett Kao
Marketing 1st: Arnav Mahendra, Shrey Gautam, Benjamin Wang
Parliamentary Procedure 1st: Cristina Doxan, Jason Liang, Ashwath Palavalli, Benjamin Loeffler
Sports & Entertainment Management 1st: Anna Hall, Jason Liang, Luke Sapigao
It is evident that students are finding tremendous success in FBLA in a variety of events. Exploring one specific event in-depth, however, will provide deeper insight into what FBLA is. One activity that members can choose to participate in is known as the American Enterprise Project. This event is designed to foster understanding of the American economic system and allow them to share this knowledge with the community.
This year’s American Enterprise Project team consists of Hayden Liu, Ganesh Karayi, and Elissa Matheson. For their project, these Mira Loma students devised the Wacky Items Auction Game, in which each person was given game money equivalent to 50 US dollars, and the auctioneers auction off 20 items, each item represented by an image of the item. Each item was, however, real and could actually be bought. After every item had been auctioned, players had the opportunity to trade their purchased items with other players. Players were then given the opportunity to create an advertisement for their items with the goal of selling them for the highest price possible during a second auction. Players were allotted 30 minutes to advertise their items before the second auction. Fictitious data, acting, and appealing to the emotions of the other players was permitted when creating these advertisements. Players could also choose to not sell one or more of their items if they believed that it is worth a substantial amount of money. After this phase of the game, the true prices of the items were revealed, and everyone tallied up the values of their items and money on hand. The person with the highest total amount was declared the winner! Both the designers and players of this game learned about multiple facets of the American enterprise system, including competition, profit, marketing, techniques used in advertisements, economic freedom, and private enterprise.
One team member states, “The Wacky Items game embodies profit motive, which is one of the core concepts of American Enterprise. It shows students why profit motive is so important and at the same time gives them a taste of how difficult it is to make a profit.” Another team member, Hayden Liu, explains, “This project was honestly an incredible learning experience for me, as I knew very little about America’s economy prior to this project. After participating in this project I feel like my knowledge of the economy has improved greatly. It was also a really nice opportunity to practice writing, speaking, and research skills.”
Congratulations to all FBLA competitors and we wish you the best of luck at future tournaments!
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