Kids & Family

Future Business Leaders Honored by Morris School District

Morristown High School FBLA students recognized for award winning efforts.

The sound of the applause in the room wasn’t quite deafening, but it was substantial as Morristown’s Future Business Leaders of America members were honored for their efforts at the Morris School District Board of Education meeting on Monday night.  

The public recognition was a long time coming, as Morristown High School’s FBLA represented the school at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference held in Anaheim, California.

During the three-day conference, individuals, state teams, and local FBLA chapters participated in more than 50 events which focused on skills recognized as essential for future business leaders.

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The road to Anaheim began and Morristown High School and extended to state level competition back in May. Out of those trials, Michael Acampora (MHS’13) and juniors Cole Shandlay and Sam Panko were selected to participate at the national level. All three students brought home National Awards of Excellence in their respective competitions. 

Acampora received sixth place honors in Economics and Cole and Samuel captured 11th place in Digital Production and Design at the highly competitive national event.

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 “Michael has a keen interest in and extraordinary grasp of economic theory and how government policies, actions and interventions affect national and international economies,” said FBLA coach David Gelber. “Michael took AP Macro- and AP Micro-Economics at MHS and earned college credits through our Middle College program.”

Acampora was unable to attend the Board of Education meeting on Monday as he is currently pursuing business studies at Boston’s Bentley College.

On their way to capturing first place in the state competition Shandlay and Panko attended numerous business seminars and worked to perfect their design submission.  In both the state and national competitions Cole and Samuel competed as a team in the Digital Production and Design category. In this event students were tasked to create a corporate identity for a fictitious company, Extreme Adventures, by developing a commercial design and promotion using computer based-digital art. Teams were required to create an effective logo, promotional items, business letterhead, print ads, and other supporting documents required to launch and operate a successful business.

“I am extremely proud of the work of these two students,” Gelber said. “Judges and fellow competitors found it hard to believe their submission represented the work of sophomore students! These two students are creative and tenacious beyond their years and have a great future ahead of them. I am looking forward to their continued success and that of our entire FBLA team. ”



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