National Recognition for Chapel Hill High Students at Future Business Leaders of America

Four students from Chapel Hill High School received national recognition at the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) Awards of Excellence Program this summer, where more than 9,600 students competed at the National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Anaheim,  CA.

The awards were part of a comprehensive national competitive events program that recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas.

Students Riley Johnson and Ian Doerfer competed in Website Design and won second place among all national competitors. John Dews-Flick earned third place in Mobile Application Development and Alan George competed in Cyber Security, bringing home sixth place. Riley Johnson and Ian Doerfer recently received letters from Governor Roy Cooper in recognition of their national honors.

Local chapter adviser, Mary Jones was awarded the Adviser of the Year for the State of North Carolina and was presented with a plaque at the Southern Region caucus held at the conference.

“These students made history for Chapel Hill High School,” said Jones. “This is the first time local students have won a national award in my 17-year tenure as the Chapel Hill High FBLA adviser.” Chapel Hill High led the way in the number of competitive events for the North Carolina delegation. Of the 22 students who placed during the State Leadership Conference held in March of this year, 11
students advanced to compete at the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, CA.

Chapel Hill High School’s Gabrielle Kmiec was elected to be a North Carolina state officer for FBLA for 2017-2018, and will lead the Triad Region (high schools and middle schools in eight counties) as
Vice-President. While at the NLC, Gabrielle presided over a portion of the state meeting of all FBLA students from North Carolina. Kmiec and the Chapel Hill High chapter will be responsible for hosting the Triad Regional Competitive Events Conference in December.

Students from Chapel Hill were able to travel to the conference with assistance from an Achiever’s Fund Grant from the Public School Foundation. “For many students, the competitive events are the capstone activity of their academic careers,” said Jones.

In addition to competitions, students immersed themselves in interactive workshops, visited an
information-packed exhibit hall, heard from motivational speakers on a broad range of business topics, and had a fun evening at Disneyland.