Nassau County School District
Press Release
Submitted by Brent Lemond
Director of Career and Adult Education
April 8, 2019 4:30 p.m.
Two years ago, Brody Mandelbaum joined Fernandina Beach High School’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter as a sophomore. He placed 4th at the state competition for Securities and Investments that year, and his involvement in FBLA grew from there. Last year he won an open competition at the Fall Leadership Conference and in the Spring he campaigned for and won a state leadership position. This year he kept busy serving as both the Florida FBLA Vice President representing Region II and also as FBHS’s chapter president. He capped his senior experience last week by placing 4th in the Economics competition.
Ethan Knagge, a senior at West Nassau High School, has been an FBLA member for three years. He competed in different events each year and took a variety of career education classes to help him decide on a career path. Having a strong aptitude for mathematics, he considered programming and engineering before settling on actuarial science. As he narrowed in on his goal, he became a full-time dual enrollment student at Florida State College at Jacksonville and focused his FBLA efforts on the Insurance and Risk Management competition. He finished 4th in the state competition.
“I didn’t like programming, but I’m really good at math,” said Knagge as he explained his choice to pursue actuarial science. His research of salaries had an impact as well. “You can make six figures, and if you make it to Chief Financial Officer or Senior Actuary you could top out as high as $300K.”
While the results of competitions make for good headlines, students receive many benefits from their involvement. They gain exposure to numerous career fields, become familiar with the business environment, and as they prepare for competitions they learn the relevance of their coursework and may be inspired to do self-study and take other courses. Finally, they grow in their appreciation of teachers and chapter advisors.
As Mandelbaum reflected on his past three years in the program, this full view of the experience was evident. “Mrs. Landtroop has been asset to me the entire time in FBLA. Our chapter has grown, and we had another member run for state office this year. It’s been amazing,” he said. Regarding the competitions, he outlined his preparation. “I took Mr. Rathmen’s (FBHS Economics teacher) class and he’s really animated. I also took a macroeconomics class online and did a lot of reading on financial news.” Finally, he offered some advice to future members. “You have to pick something you are interested in for competition. You really can’t crunch the material in a few days; you need to passively learn the content over time.”
As for future plans, Knagge is headed to Florida State University. Mandelbaum is also pursuing a career in Finance and is considering several schools such as the Wharton School of Business (Penn), the University of Florida, and Duke. As for Nassau County’s six FBLA chapters, look for continued growth. WNHS Sophomore Jamie Elmore was recently elected FBLA District IV’s President and is looking to make his mark!