Hawley, Pennsylvania, July 16, 2025—Students from Wallenpaupack Area High School (WAHS) recently attended the 2025 National Leadership Conference (NLC) of Future Business Leaders of America, Inc. (FBLA), the nation’s largest Career and Technical Student Organization focused solely on business. The event, held in Anaheim, California, (at the Anaheim Convention Center) from June 29 to July 2, attracted more than 15,000 middle school and high school students and educators from across the country.

The WAHS FBLA Chapter had 15 qualifiers who flew to Anaheim to attend and compete at the conference. They were: Darby Brennan and Hannah Stratton the Broadcast Journalism Team; Harrison Braida, who competed in Future Business Educator; Bryce Pagano, Eddie Kiesendahl and Ben Scholl (Pennsylvania FBLA State President 2025-2026) the Digital Video Production Team; Katie Pettinato and Lilly Williams the Graphic Design Team; Tyler Meyers who tested in the competitive event of Journalism; Jessie Gallagher, Adrianna Milutinovic and Amelia Porcelli the Public Service Announcement Team and Alexis Blaszczyk, Annie Guo and Julianna Lofberg the Social Media Strategies Team. WAHS FBLA President Kaitlin Williams traveled with the group to gather information and insight from the national level to bring back to the local chapter for the upcoming year; additionally, she served as a judge in the final round of an FBLA Middle School Competitive Event.

Bryce Pagano, Eddie Kiesendahl and Ben Scholl advanced to the final round in Digital Video Production and finished second in the nation-- receiving individual plaques and a monetary reward. Darby Brennan and Hannah Stratton advanced to the final round in Broadcast Journalism and finished fourth in the nation--receiving individual plaques. Harrison Braida advanced to the final round in Future Business Educator and finished fifth in the nation and received a plaque. While in Anaheim, the WAHS FBLA Members were able to compete at the highest level that FBLA has to offer and experience all that Southern California had to offer.

The WAHS FBLA Members, along with their Advisers Melissa Monte and Jim Winagle, and WAHS FBLA Alumnus Anne Monte (Wallenpaupack Area High School Class of 2015) visited Disney Land, traveled to San Diego and visited San Diego Zoo. After prelims competition was over, the group traveled to Huntington Beach and got to swim in the Pacific Ocean and watch the famous California sunset. This year marks the eleventh consecutive year of WAHS FBLA taking qualifiers to NLC. During those years, WAHS FBLA has had competitors place in the top ten, but this is the first time they have had three teams land in the Top 5 of the nation.

Congratulations to all competitors on a job well done!

Future Business Leaders of America, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association with more than 200,000 middle school, high school, and college members worldwide. FBLA inspires and prepares students to become community-minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences. The association is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. For more information, visit fbla.org

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