The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
In the national limelight
Harvey High School students win national recognition from Future Business Leaders of America
Seventeen students from Painesville’s Thomas W. Harvey High School recently competed at the Future Business Leaders of America’s National Leadership Conference, with four students named as finalists in their respective categories.
Graduating seniors Elizabeth Keller and Ana Garcia Pacheco placed eighth in the business ethics category, while rising seniors Jesus Flores Morales and Isabella Brozic were among the top 15 in the data analysis category, noted Pat Brown, a member of the Painesville City School Board who is involved with the team.
She added that the 17 Harvey students were among a total of 12,000 students who competed in Chicago from June 29 to July 2, and that FBLA is “the largest national organization for students who are interested in a business-related career.”
According to Keller, the business ethics prompt asked students to address the way social media algorithms flag and remove posts deemed to contain inappropriate content.
In the fictional scenario, a high school student named Esmeralda posted beach pictures wearing the same swimsuit as her friends, but only her post was removed from social media.
“Because she had a larger body…Instagram’s inappropriate content algorithm flagged her body as inappropriate because she was showing more skin than everyone else, just because she was larger in size,” Keller added.
Garcia Pacheco noted that the team members proposed that Instagram’s content moderation algorithms
use “a variation of 3D models that represent accurate exposure for all body types” so that “the algorithm would have more to work with in considering whether something is inappropriate or not.”
Keller said that they also proposed that the platform explain to users why their posts were removed and have people review posts flagged by Instagram’s content algorithms.
According to Nell Rapport, a Harvey business teacher who is the chapter’s adviser, Brozic and Flores Morales analyzed data related to home ownership in the United States.
Keller, who has served as the chapter’s vice-president and president, said that while she doesn’t plan to go into business, she believes the skills she learned in FBLA will help her in her
plans to enter the medical field.
“I think that doing things like working with people, leading my chapter, working on my public speaking is really going to help me, well it has already made me more confident as a person, and I think that’ll definitely help me in my career and, like, whatever I decide to do outside of that,” she said.
Garcia Pacheco said that FBLA helped her grow more comfortable with public speaking, which she said “has helped me obtain jobs and be selected in certain classes.”
Rapport helped found Harvey’s FBLA chapter in 1995, and she said that they have made nationals just about every year since. She noted that Harvey’s team usually finishes strongly at the state competition in
Columbus, which has representatives from around 25 to 40 schools.
She said that Harvey had 21 students in its FBLA chapter this year. Usually it has closer to 30, but she explained that the program had a large number of graduating students last year in addition to lower recruitment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She expects to be closer to 30 next year.
Brown noted that since 2010, Harvey’s FBLA chapter has partnered with Avery Dennison.
In addition to serving as a board member, Brown also works in investor relations for Avery Dennison and leads the partnership between the school and the company. As part of the partnership, Avery Dennison provides the chapter with financial support and mentorship.
“In the 12 years since we began the partnership, we’ve placed at nationals for nine out of 12 years,” she added.
Brown said, “I am very proud of the Harvey FBLA students for achieving these amazing results. It truly is a testament to their hard work and dedication. I am also incredibly grateful to Avery Dennison for their support, and to all of my colleagues who give so generously of their time and talents to make this program a success.”
In addition to business ethics and data analysis, Brown noted that Harvey students also competed in broadcast journalism, impromptu speaking, introduction to business presentation, introduction to public speaking, job interview, public speaking and sales presentation