Riverwood International Students Win National FBLA Competition

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Three Riverwood International Charter School students competed in the 2019 Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas in July. Senior Luca Maddaleni placed second in Network Design competition and senior Chandler McCleskey placed second in Impromptu Speaking competition. This marks the third year both Maddaleni and McCleskey qualified for the national conference. Junior Piero Maddaleni competed in the Networking Concepts competition as a first-time national competitor.

The four-day national conference in San Antonio is considered the pinnacle of FBLA events. It brought together thousands of high school students from across the U.S. and around the world to compete in leadership events, learn new ideas through workshops and exhibits, and share successes from the competition.

The Network Design and Networking Concepts category requires knowledge of network planning, configuration, problem-solving and troubleshooting, network administrator functions, the configuration of internet resources, and backup and disaster recovery planning. The Impromptu Speaking category requires students to give an impromptu speech to a panel of judges and tests the ability to express one’s thoughts without prior preparation and competitors are judged on poise, self-confidence, and organization of facts. This event recognizes competitors who develop qualities of business leadership by combining quick and clear thinking with conversational speaking.

The Riverwood students qualified for Nationals by competing and placing at the March State Conference. At the state level, McCleskey placed second in both Impromptu Speaking and Organizational Leadership; Luca Maddaleni placed second in both Cyber Security and Network Design; Piero Maddaleni placed fourth in Networking Concepts and sixth in Introduction to Digital Technology. The top four finishers automatically qualify for nationals.

Future Business Leaders of America is the largest career student organization in the world. FBLA helps high school students prepare for careers in business through academic competitions, leadership development, and educational programs. Each year, FBLA helps over 230,000 members prepare for careers in business. The Raider FBLA chapter looks forward to another strong year and is already setting their sights on next summer’s national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.