The Compass

The Compass

Proud Moment – Manchester Proud Intern, Kaydence’s experience at NH’S FBLA Competition

Written by Kaydence Jones

This year, I participated and competed in New Hampshire’s FBLA Competition for the second time! It is held in downtown Manchester, NH, on Elm St at the DoubleTree Hotel. Over four hundred students participated this year and came from all around New Hampshire. 

This year, I decided to compete for Broadcast Journalism. In this competition, I had to write up a speech for an emergency that “happened” in my community. It was, of course, not a real emergency; it was completely made up. It had to include certain things, like an interview from someone impacted, and had to be completely live. Lots of research and ideas went into it. I was given three minutes of prep time, 7 minutes to present, and 3 minutes of questions from the judges. 

It was only me and a group of two competing in this competition. I was the last to compete out of the whole conference. As I waited to compete, we had speakers to listen to with great and interactive speeches. I had four hours to prepare before it was my time to compete, so I took that time to practice even more and brainstorm potential questions the judges would ask me. 

When I went to compete, I was a little nervous, but I was determined to at least score the minimum to get second place. In order to get second place, I needed to score 60/100 points, and to get first, I needed to get at least a 90/100. 

I walked into the room, and I had three judges before me. I shook their hands and laid my stuff down with my notecards still in hand. Once the judges gave me the okay to start, I told the story as if I were a news anchor. After I finished, they asked me some simple questions like why I chose what I did, where I want to go after high school, etc. The judges were all wonderful. They really enjoyed my story idea and how I presented it. One of the judges even went to one of the Universities I have applied to in Japan, Ritsumeikan University. And another judge recommended a movie to watch, Black Waters. 

The next day, we were given the results. They called up second place first. It wasn’t me. Then they called up first place, and my hands were trembling with nerves. It was me. I won first place for broadcast journalism. I received a gold medal. 

This is such a big accomplishment for me because I have never received a medal before or even first place. I was so happy, and I am still shocked. Two of my classmates also won medals: Muhannad and Alex. 

My experience at FBLA was amazing. Despite the nerves and long hours of waiting, it was both enjoyable and exciting. I got to meet new people through the networking activities and learned new things from the speakers.

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