MPISD FBLA Middle Level

First row (L to R) Blakely Garrett, Aloani Laboy, Zoe Zuniga, Sebastian Otero, Annie Crabb / Second row (L to R) Jaliyah Brown, Charity Prater, Sage Jordan, Aubree Hawkins, Abi Verner, Hudson Rider, Sabrina Otero, Emily Crabb / Third row (L to R) Alba Zeqaj, April Lozano, Mykaela King, Isabella Furnish, Cooper Rider, Kaiser Sheppard, Juan Mata, Jayden Baker

Brown: Wallace sixth-grader, Jaliyah Brown, Who’s Who award recipient

Rider: MPJH eighth-grader Cooper Rider, Outstanding Middle-Level award recipient

Contact: Kelly Cowan

MPISD FBLA Middle-Level students advance to Nationals

The Mount Pleasant ISD Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Middle Level, grades 5th-8th, competed at the State Leadership Conference in Galveston on March 22-24. Twenty-one MPISD middle-level students representing Wallace Middle School and Mount Pleasant Junior High made the trip to Galveston, with all 21 placing in their events, 19 qualifying for Nationals, and two national alternates.

National Qualifiers, their events, and their places at state include:

Annual Chapter Activities-Sage Jordan and Zoe Zuniga (1st place)

Business Ethics-Mykaela King, Sabrina Otero, and Alba Zeqaj (2nd place)

Community Service Presentation-Jayden Baker, Blakely Garrett, and Cooper Rider (1st place)

Elevator Speech-Emily Crabb (1st place)

Exploring Business Issues-Annie Crabb and Abi Verner (2nd place)

FBLA Concepts -April Lozano (1st place)

Marketing Mix Challenge-Aubree Hawkins and Kaiser Sheppard (1st place)

Multimedia & Website Design-Juan Mata and Sebastian Otero (1st place)

Video Game Challenge-Isabella Furnish, Aloani Laboy, and Charity Prater (1st place)

Career Research-Jaliyah Brown (3rd place—alternate)

Career Exploration-Hudson Rider (3rd place—alternate)

In addition, they named sixth-grader Jaliyah Brown, Who’s Who, and eighth-grader Cooper Rider Outstanding Middle-Level for the Mount Pleasant Middle-Level chapter.  

“This year, the FBLA Middle-Level doubled its membership and students competing at the State Leadership Conference,” said advisor Dana Armstrong. “The students began working on their projects in late November and have worked very hard, and I am very proud of their efforts. The students will begin preparing for Nationals in a few weeks. The expectations are high for the students to work hard to improve in their event. I am excited to see what our group will do at Nationals. I want to thank Nathan and Lisa Rider, who attended as advisors. I am very thankful for their help during the conference.”

Mount Pleasant ISD FBLA Middle Level was chartered at Wallace Middle School in the fall of 2018 with the help of Matthew Armstrong, 2018-19 MPHS FBLA President and Texas FBLA Area 6 State Vice-President, along with the MPHS FBLA advisor, John Whitten. In 2021 the group expanded to include members from Mount Pleasant Junior High. 

The FBLA National Leadership Conference is June 25-July 1, 2023, in Atlanta, GA.