Five Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) students including students from Dalton and Tunnel Hill have qualified to compete in June in the Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate National Leadership Conference.
Six GNTC students competed in 12 events at the Georgia Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Collegiate State Leadership Conference in Atlanta, where students from the 22 colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia gathered for leadership development sessions, as well as performance-based and written competitions. GNTC students placed in eight events.
Nancy Johnson, a resident of Tunnel Hill who attends classes at the Catoosa County Campus in Ringgold, placed first in the Foundations of Entrepreneurship and second in the Organizational Behavior and Leadership competitions; Brandon Wishon, a Dalton resident who attends classes at the Whitfield Murray Campus in Dalton, placed first in the Future Business Executive and fourth in the Foundations of Communication competitions.
Anna Cantrell placed second in the Retail Management competition. Cantrell resides in Rome and attends classes at the Floyd County Campus in Rome.
Calhoun resident Josue Lopez, who attends classes at the Gordon County Campus in Calhoun, placed third in both the Entrepreneurship Pitch and Business Presentation competitions. Lopez also won the bronze medal in Masonry at the 2024 SkillsUSA Georgia State Leadership and Skills Conference earlier this year.
Esther Johnson placed fourth in the Public Speaking competition. She resides in Rome and attends the Floyd County Campus.
“I encourage students to put themselves in uncomfortable situations because that’s what the real world is going to expect of them,” said Mark Upton, GNTC’s Marketing Management program director and FBLA coordinator. The state competition tested their abilities and helped them to prepare for the upcoming national competition.
All entries at the state competition who placed first, second or third qualify for competition at the National Leadership Conference, which will take place June 24-27 in Orlando, Florida.
“The added challenge of competing at a higher level at the national competition pushes the students to do their best and to raise their level of competitiveness,” Upton said.
Competing in these kinds of events adds to students’ learning, networking, people skills and dealing with stress; prospective employers like to see well-rounded students who are prepared for the workforce while students find the competitions fun and exciting, he explained.
“GNTC’s FBLA Collegiate group is made up of amazing students this year,” said Trish Wiggins, GNTC’s director of Student Engagement. “I am so proud of every student who competed. I know the five students who advanced will represent GNTC and the state of Georgia very well at the National Competition in June.”
Future Business Leaders of America is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association helping more than 230,000 students to prepare for careers in business and business-related fields. FBLA is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, and organized on local, state and national levels.