The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science FBLA Club members came home from their district-level competition at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville with a significant haul of awards, including five first-place certificates.

FBLA stands for Future Business Leaders of America,  a nationally recognized club designed for middle school, high school and collegiate students who are interested in learning more about the free enterprise system. The purpose of FBLA is to provide opportunities for students to develop vocational and career competencies and to promote civic and personal responsibilities and to develop competent, aggressive business leadership.

The opening ceremony was led by  NEMCC President, Mr. Ricky G Ford, after which, students were sent off to their competition areas and testing centers, while others watched the film Star Trek until it was time for their competition to begin.

Seniors who attended felt a bittersweet touch as it was their last year attending district. “It was amazing to go with such an amazing, positive group. It was one for the history books, and I cannot wait until State competition,” Brianna Ladnier stated.

Fellow senior Calisa Henry talked about an improvement in participation from last year to this year. “I really enjoyed it and I was really glad that we were able to take more people. Last year we only took about five and it was just more fun taking more people and winning more awards,” she said.

The FBLA awards ceremony began at 1:15 p.m., but prior to those students ate lunch in the NEMCC cafeteria and received entertainment from two employees who sang a series of songs for the students. In addition, to raise money for the March of Dimes, the northeast district FBLA allowed students to pay for raffle tickets and allow students to get a chance to hit a piñata and possibly win prizes.

During the awards ceremony, many MSMS students were recognized and awarded. In individual categories, the winners are listed below:

Likhitha Polepalli received 1^st place in Organizational Leadership

Brianna Ladnier placed 1^st in Impromptu Speaking

Aurelia Caine received 1^st place in Word Processing

Advaith Sunil, Mildred Purdue, Devin Chen and Loveish Sarolia received 1^st place in Parliamentary Procedure

Sabrina Solomon, John Bowlin, and Calisa Henry received 1^st Place in Marketing

Anna Overstreet received 2^nd place in Accounting

Alan Elgin received 3^rd place in Business Calculations

Jilkiah Bryant received 6^th place in Health Care Administration

Trinity Cannon received 6^th place in Word Processing

By placing in the Top 6, these students will move ahead to state-level competition in Jackson, which will run from April 11-13.