Jim Thorpe FBLA attended the 75th annual Pennsylvania FBLA State Leadership Conference from April 12-15 in Hershey, with 66 high school and middle school students in attendance. Jim Thorpe brought home numerous awards.

Students had half of the day to participate in activities like Hershey Park, Chocolate World and the Hershey outlets.

Students participated in presentation events and attended educational workshops like “Build Your Resume Now,” which was a workshop preparing students for future application processes and having a professionally formatted resume.

The opening session started with the campaign rally.

Junior Vice President Noelanie Sepulveda was up for the position of state secretary and had her speech.

Later that night, outgoing regional officers had the opportunity to walk the stage.

Chapter President KaylaAnn Kandy and Noelanie Sepulveda walked the stage for being the 2025-26 regional treasurer and secretary, respectively. They received recognition for the Keystone Leadership Award; they were 13 out of 6,000-plus members to receive the award. Four members were recognized for their completion of the Advocate Level of the Business Achievement Awards.

Members were Gabriella Cerra, KaylaAnn Kandy, Arianna Onofre, and Noelanie Sepulveda. Kandy won the William H. Selden Scholarship.

Jim Thorpe FBLA earned first in the state for community service hours for the second year in a row.

In Market Share, the chapter took third place with a 28% market share.

The chapter had 15 National Business Honor Society inductees.

KaylaAnn Kandy and Noelanie Sepulveda placed sixth in the Local Annual Chapter Business Report.

As a chapter, Penn Kidder earned second in Community Service, second in largest local chapter market share, and fifth for outstanding middle school chapter in Pennsylvania.

LB Morris earned fourth place in community service, third place in largest local chapter market share, and fourth place for outstanding middle school chapter.

Middle school competitors had the following event placements:

• Penn Kidder, Amanda Warner, second, digital citizenship.

• L.B. Morris, Madison Eremus, second place, and Katarina Sargent, fourth place in Exploring FBLA; Quinn Finsel, third place, and Jayden Deritis, fifth place, in Digital Citizenship, Maya LeKites, fourth place in Exploring Leadership, and Leah Hartman, fifth place in Career Exploration.

KaylaAnn Kandy qualified for the final round in Future Business Leader and Maura Malaska qualified for the final round in Public Speaking.

Maura Malaska placed sixth in the state for Public Speaking and KaylaAnn Kandy placed 10th in the state for Future Business Leader.

Middle School students Amanda Warner, Katarina Sargent, Madison Eremus and Maya LeKites and high school students KaylaAnn Kandy and Noelanie Sepulveda will be attending the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas, from June 27-July 3.

The chapter is looking for additional donations and sponsorships to help defray the cost of attending the conference.

Donations can be mailed to Jim Thorpe Area High School, Attn: Tonia Thompson, 1 Olympian Way, Jim Thorpe, PA 18229.