TCCHS FBLA celebrates 14th region winning streak – Times-Enterprise

THOMASVILLE- Thomas County Central High School’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter is the Georgia FBLA Region 1 champion for the 14th consecutive year.

Junior Caroline Westberg, who serves as the chapter’s president, believes each member made a conscious effort to continue the winning trend.

“I think [this win] shows the outstanding ability and effort our chapter has put forth this year in order to make our chapter the best it has ever been,” she said.

Due to the unusual snowfall in South Georgia, the Region 1 competition was postponed and combined with the Region 2 event held at Lowndes High School on Jan. 21. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, the TCCHS chapter had 55 students qualify for the state competition. (See box of winners)

Senior Dev Patel competed in the Digital Video Production category with Manthan Patel. Their competition involved creating a video that emphasized the importance of tourism in Thomas County. The duo spent about a month working on the video. Their first place finish was one of the events that supported the chapter’s overall region win, but he noted there were a lot of people who contributed.

“I believe our officer team is amazing, and our president makes great decisions,” he said.

Junior Andre Williams Jr. competed and placed first in two events. He, Roan Adams, and J.P. Rehberg took first in Broadcast Video Production at the Fall Leadership Conference earlier this school year in Athens. At the region event, he placed first in Public Service Announcement (PSA) along with his teammates D’atra Lomax and Aleah Moore.

“Our PSA was about healthy habits in the workplace environment,” Williams said. “We gave tips about how to stay healthy in your workplace to keep everyone informed on how to keep [their bodies] healthy.”

While this was his first year in FBLA, Williams felt proud to join the legacy. He attributed the chapter’s overall success to Mr. Nick Haskin, the chapter adviser.

“I believe this chapter is so successful because when you have an amazing adviser who helps out and gives you amazing tips on how to be the best, and that always believes in you, you got it made!” he said.

Haskin, who thanked his co-advisers Mr. Mark Thompson and Ms. Samantha Vonier for their help, was excited to share the news about the TCCHS chapter being undefeated.

“This is the 14th year since the inception of the Region Sweepstakes trophy” said Haskin. “14 years. 14 titles.”

Haskin noted it takes countless hours of dedication to continue this winning tradition and expressed how proud he is of his FBLA members for continuing their legacy of excellence.

“Winning the region title again is a testament to the hard work, passion, and commitment of our members,” Haskin continued. “So many of the members are in their first year of competition with FBLA and finding such great success. Nothing makes me prouder as a teacher, or adviser, than to watch my students walk across the stage with confidence and get recognized for their hard work.”

Presentation events were conducted at the in-person competition. Written testing events were conducted in early December with the results announced at the conference.

Junior Rudra Patel was most excited about his testing event, Management Information Systems. He had one hour to take a 100 question test on the topic.

“I placed first in my testing event, and it means a lot to me as I spent hours studying and preparing for this event,” he said.

FBLA is an organization that prepares tomorrow’s business leaders by teaching them the necessary skills to be successful in their post-secondary journeys and future careers. At conference events, students attend workshops and seminars to learn more about these skills. Westberg, who also serves as region FBLA officer, conducted a workshop designed to help students understand how to manage their money through budgeting, investing, and saving.

“I kept the presentation short but fun,” she said. “In order to keep it interactive, I even implemented a few games.”

She enjoyed her duties as a region officer which also allowed her to help open and close the conference session and distribute medals to winners alongside some of Georgia’s FBLA state officer team members.

Testing and submissions for the state level take place later this month. The 2025 Georgia FBLA State Leadership Competition will be held in Atlanta in March.