in order to continue to work on their projects. Members claimed this to be particularly difficult for group entries, as they were now expected to find alternative virtual ways to complete their work.

     “Zooms were a great way for students to meet and discuss their progress and how their projects were coming along,” Garner said. 

     This year, FBLA offered 70 different competitions that Rose members could participate in. These events were judged based on the selected categories of tests, presentations and interviews. Of the total Rose members that competed, two students placed in their competitions: rising sophomore Drew Sears and rising junior Anisha Sadhale. 

     Sears competed in a category called E-business, where he had to create a website for a book rental business located in Greenville. The website he made sells textbooks to college students. It also had purple and gold colors to relate to ECU and had multiple features such as a way to translate the website into different languages, analytics for the business to review, and a live chat system for customers to use. Sears’ biggest challenge was determining how to make his presentation look professional, since he would no longer present it in person. Despite this challenge, Sears finished in fourth place. 

     “It was definitely different doing the presentation in my room instead of doing it in front of judges,” Sears said. “But I think having more time to review and figure out how I wanted to present my website helped improve how I finished in the competition.”

     Sadhale competed in Database Design and Applications. For this category, she was given a set of tasks to complete including building a database for a company, taking a 100 question multiple choice test, and a set of additional tasks in Microsoft Access. Sadhale’s biggest challenge was having to complete and practice virtually, without the assistance of peers and teachers to critique and ask questions during Refresh. Even though she had to face these challenges, Sadhale won third place in the competition.

     “Anisha is a stellar student. When I had Anisha in class and we covered databases, she picked it up with ease,” Garner said. “I knew she would do great in that event.” 

     The online aspect of the competition was a challenge, but members had been exposed to the online aspect of the competition with this year’s state competition, which was also online. Garner did have some impact on how the competition ran, since he put together the online state competition. He coordinated the online FBLA state conference for 2500 students. Garner’s format for the state competition helped lay the foundation for the National Conference. Although it was a change, some members found the positives in having the competition online.
     “The online perspective was really different because there wasn’t the aspect of meeting other people from around the state and talking with them about the event, but the whole thing was still prepared really well,” Sadhale said. “I liked being able to complete my event from my bedroom.”

     This year’s online FBLA National Leadership Conference was unlike any years’ prior. Rose students had to overcome many obstacles to meet and complete their projects. With lots of help from Garner, members persevered and two ended up placing.