FBLA Team Places Ninth in Nation

The Jasper County High School Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) team of DeVon Andrews and Quinton Standifer placed ninth in the nation with its Emerging Business Issues presentation at the National FBLA Conference held last week in Nashville, TN.

The rising seniors earned the right to compete at the national level by virtue of their second place win in the state contest at the Georgia FBLA State Conference which was held in Atlanta in March. The young men had previously won first place with their presentation at the region level.

As part of their competition, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Standifer had to prepare a positive and a negative argument for mobile shopping applications. Once they entered the prep room for their contest, they were given which side they needed to argue—either for or against mobile shopping applications. During the preliminary round, the pair argued for the mobile shopping applications; however, they argued against the applications in the final round.

The local team has been working diligently since the state competition to improve their arguments, which paid off at the national level. After the preliminary round which consisted of some 90 teams, they were chosen as one of the 12 teams to advance to the final round of competition. The ninth place award was announced during the awards ceremony last Wednesday evening.

While at the conference, the young men spent a lot of time with past competitors, past state officers and coaches preparing for the event. They did take a little time to enjoy a night at Dave and Busters and some swimming and shopping.

The local guys were accompanied to the conference by Mrs. Johnnie Sue Moore, JCHS FBLA adviser, who administered the final round of the parliamentary procedure event. She also had the opportunity to visit the Grand Ole Opry while in Nashville. In addition to Mrs. Moore, Jackie Card and Jeanette Standifer, mothers of DeVon and Quinton, respectively, also attended the conference.

The local FBLA team members and advisers expressed appreciation to the school and community for the support they received in preparing for the conference. Numerous fund raisers were held and the team was awarded an “Operation Round-up Grant” from Central Georgia EMC.

In addition, many private donations were made to the pair from local citizens and members of the St. James AME Church.