Robinson’s branch of the Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, took first at this weekend’s competition, putting them on track for Nationals in Orlando. 

At the competition, held March 15-18, Co-Vice Presidents Devan Patel (’25) and Ayan Nallamshetty (’25) presented on Intel’s past financial statements, where they took first.

“Devan and I had to prepare a presentation, analyzing Intel’s financial statements. We had to pretend that we were pitching it to the board of directors of a company looking at investing and Intel. We have prepared over the past few months and after getting first at the district level, we qualified for states,” Nallamshetty said. “From there, we worked hard to refine and improve our presentation, and we were lucky enough to place first at states. We’re really happy with how it went, and we’re excited to go to nationals.”

Nallamshetty, Patel and club members John Joura (’27) and Akshaj Katragunta (’27) will all be advancing to nationals in Orlando, from June 29 to July 2.

“At the state leadership conference, I managed to place 3rd in my event, business law, which qualifies me to go to the national tournament, where I’ll compete against students from all over the country,” Joura said. “I am very excited for this opportunity to represent Robinson and to compete.”

Robinson’s FBLA club is dedicated to helping students prepare for careers in business. Robinson’s has around 50 people in the club but only a handful went to states.

“FBLA is the best student-led organization for business. Its goal is to teach students to be able to speak out loud, lead, create change, and network to meet people and have the most unique experiences they can as high schoolers,” said Patel, one of the club’s organizers. “As a part of it, I do my best to inspire the people who meet me to try as hard as they can to succeed in FBLA. Or I coach close friends and family on how to lead with what I’ve learned.”

Robinson’s placing comes as no surprise to Patel. 

“The competition, to be honest, went how I expected,” Patel said. “We trained, practiced, and made sure we stood out. So, when we presented our information and the judges said we did so well that they didn’t have any questions for us, I believe it was the product of our hard work.”