By Izzy Shoemaker ’26

The inaugural group in Wyoming Seminary’s Future Business Leaders of America program had a very exciting and successful season. Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is a statewide competition that challenges highschool students to make business decisions and pitches in order to better prepare them for careers in business. FBLA intends to create dynamic, self assured students who are able to confidently navigate through real world problems.

To qualify for the State Leadership Conference, delegates must place in the top four in their region. After achieving this, Wyoming Seminary was able to enter a team in the state conference for the first time. The competition included 276 chapters of FBLA, yet SEM placed in the top three.  FBLA standout, Tanish Patel ‘26, said, “We had a lot of fun at the FBLA State Conference, and it was full of opportunities to learn and grow as people. As a first-year program, we didn’t have many expectations going into this, but now Ben and I will be attending the National Conference in California. At Nationals, Tanish Patel and Ben Mauriello ‘26 will compete against the most elite young business leaders in the country.

Mauriello and Patel also plan on expanding the program next year. Patel said, “We’ve really enjoyed FBLA so far and we are looking forward to sending more teams to the state conference next year. We got a lot of exposure and met a lot of new people and had an incredible time this year, and as a first year program we are hoping to grow into a huge program in the future.”

The team’s success has the student body excited to watch them perform at the National Level. It also sparked interest in other business activities at SEM, such as Investment Club and Business Club. Over the course of the next few years, SEM will be able to grow a young generation of competitive business professionals, who are sure to continue competing at the highest level. FBLA, and other professional clubs, will certainly become flagship programs at the Seminary.