Marshall’s two FBLA teams placed first and third in the Regional Spring conference at the University of Richmond on March 7.
The first-place team, consisting of seniors Sandy Vo, Shannen Escobar, Nathaniel Chen, Corey Martin and James Cusack, will go on to the National Competition in Philadelphia in April.
“We had a good amount of wins in first, second and third place,” said vice president director of activities, Negin Hooshmandnia, senior.
Each team member competed in one of five categories: Environment, Health and Safety, Personal Finance, Consumer Rights and Technology.
The competition consisted of four rounds, in which all ten teams competed against each other.
The Marshall teams competed against one another in the semi-finals, with Vo, Escobar, Chen, Martin and Cusack coming out on top. The winning group went on to win in the finals, beating a team from Henrico county on the last question in a group activity. The team won with with the last question which was worth ten points.
“We thought this one was a little bit less competitive maybe because we studied more,” Escobar said. “Other than that, we were more prepared.”
The team felt more prepared and confident than last year and felt that their opponents did not have the same competitive drive they did.
“We had studied a lot and we knew what we had to do from last year along what the other teams did,” Martin said. “After the first couple games we realized that we were one of the most competitive teams there.”