DV’s chapter swept the stage at the Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference in Hershey, Pa. last week. Junior Shane Fagan was elected as next year’s State President and will represent DV as PA FBLA’s most prominent leader. The team of seniors Anthony Gosch, Vanessa Paolella and sophomore Emily Jacobus won first place for the Community Service Project, and all of DV’s officer’s will move on to Nationals in Anaheim, Calif. for their contributions to the project, including senior Alyssa Harvey and juniors Cindy Li and Eileen Nikles.

“I now take on an immense role that I plan to make the most of,” said Fagan. “I'm blessed to have been a part of such a wonderful team last year, and now I take the opportunity to lead eight more members. I will create a state project proposal, develop my plans of work and send out official communication to members and advisers, solidifying the start of the new year.”

DV’s local chapter won prestigious awards including first place for the total number of community service hours, beating the second place chapter by about 2,000 hours with 5,166.25 hours. DV also won second place for the William Selden Outstanding Chapter award, the highest they’ve ever placed. The officer team worked on completing the Local Annual Business Report over the school year and took seventh at States.

The team of juniors Samantha Becker, Jillian Corwin and David DeFreese took fourth place in the 3D Animation event and will also advance to Nationals in June.

“I am very proud of everyone for all the hard work they put in especially because this year's competition was so fierce,” said Harvey. “We were up against Pennsylvania's best and DV was able to meet the challenge. I'm very excited to attend the National Conference this summer with the nine other members who qualified.”

Paolella placed seventh in the competition for the Who’s Who in FBLA Scholarship, winning $500. Gosch and Harvey both received Honorable Mentions, receiving $250 each. Harvey won first place in the Membership Madness competition and Gosch won first in the Membership Mania competition. Both were also awarded the Keystone Leadership Award.

The team of seniors Emma Bobo, Gabriella Cuevas and Fagan placed eighth in the Partnership with a Business event.

Many members won individual awards for their competitive events, including Li taking fifth in Business Communications, junior Frances King taking sixth for Occupational Leadership, sophomore Christian Secular taking sixth for Spreadsheet Applications, Fagan taking seventh for Sales Presentation, freshman Tatyana Gomez taking eighth for Mobile App Development and freshman Trevor Harvey taking eighth for Introduction to Information Technology. Junior Tyler Magee was honored for his 376 community service hours.

Fagan, King, Paolella, senior Lindsey Toomer and junior Bry Rose were all inducted into the National Business Honor Society.

“The most rewarding part of competing is that win or lose, if you try your best and take advantage of all the opportunities that Pa. places in front of you, you will have a terrific time,” said Gosch. “As I advance to Nationals [this] summer I look forward to representing DV and enjoying all the opportunities FBLA continues to offer me.”