Exeter Business Club Competes at FBLA Competition

Exeter Business Club (EBC) traveled to the New Hampshire State Leadership Conference to compete in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) last Thursday in Manchester. A record number of 28 Exonians qualified for the FBLA National Leadership Conference that will be held in Anaheim, California in June.

“I joined Business Club because of my interest in investments and entrepreneurship. It provided a perfect opportunity to explore those interests and to compete in conferences in some of those topics.”

The club draws on a wide variety of students. EBC gives Exonians like upper Jackson Parell a place to discuss ideas and compete at large-scale competitions such as FBLA. “I joined Business Club because of my interest in investments and entrepreneurship. It provided a perfect opportunity to explore those interests and to compete in conferences in some of those topics,” Parell said.

Upper and EBC’s Director of Finances Tim Han was also elected to become a 2017-2018 State Officer for FBLA. According to lower Aarsh Kak, Han gave an impressive speech that led to his election as State Officer. “Everybody there, even people outside of Exeter, were standing up and cheering for him. Tim Han was pretty much a celebrity at the end,” Kak said.

Kak and his partner, lower Dhruva Nistane, placed first in the Financial Business Plan category and punched their ticket to nationals after writing a 16 page business plan. After preparing their business plan, the group presented their business for seven minutes.

For nationals, Kak hopes to be better prepared. “Individually, [I hope] to spend more time beforehand, going through the material and having a thorough presentation because a lot of this stuff is done a couple school nights before the competition.”

The tournament also encouraged partners to work together toward their common goal of winning. In regard to his work with Nistane, Kak said, “The competition almost forced us to work together, otherwise you won't get much accomplished. We were, in a good way, forced to constantly cooperate by splitting the work and trying to build off of each other’s ideas.”

Lowers, sisters and business partners, Katie and Elizabeth Yang, competed in the competition’s Business Ethics event. They took first with Judges’ Distinction, giving a presentation on the ethics of screening social media in the process of hiring an employee. Katie Yang enjoyed the competitive and team facets of the conference. “It felt great to go to the competition with other Exonians, competing as a club and as a team,” she said.

Prep Sophia Cho wanted to closely examine some of the big ideas in entrepreneurship. “My father is a business consultant for financial institutions, so I joined Business Club to understand what business actually is,” she said.

The club also provides an opportunity to form connections with leaders in various business fields. “It is a great way of competing as well as meeting people from other schools and networking,” said lower Summit Chandra.

Others, such as prep John Han—who has prior experience in other business clubs—felt that EBC provides an atmosphere of fellowship.  “I love the environment, the community and the opportunity to experience a business element with others,” he said.

Besides nationals, Business Club has other plans for the future. In May, they will host the inaugural Phillips Exeter Academy's Social Innovation Think Tank (PEASITT), which invites students from other schools to present a solution to a problem in their community.