FBLA-Personal Narrative Analysis

At that moment I knew it was all over. I sat on the edge of my seat and covered my eyes.
Third place, nothing, Second place, nothing. The tears in my eyes started welling up. First
place, nothing. A few tears ran down my face. I stood up and walked out of the conference
room. I had just lost.
Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is an amazing organization that I am glad to of been apart of. When I joined, FBLA as a high school junior I never realized the loyalty it can cause in a person.A great thing about FBLA is its competitions. At the district level, I competed in two written tests, Computer Applications and Business Communications. Once the award ceremony started, I began to get nervous. I remember just sitting there thinking I

would not be receiving one. I remember my friends getting called up and receiving their trophies with their big
smiles.Business Communications was next, they called 5th, 4th and 3rd place­nothing, 2nd
place, 1st place­ again nothing.

No one said Jessica Quay, but why? I thought I did pretty well. I
started to think I did not win anything that day. However, things quickly changed as the
Computer Applications awards were right after. I was already feeling defeated and did not want
to go through the miserable feeling of my name not being called, again. This time was different.
I remember them calling 2nd place­ Jessica Quay. I was so excited I practically ran to the front
of the room, I had succeeded in something I really enjoyed. Winning this trophy meant I
qualified and was going to states.
At states, I competed in a speaking event with my friend called Emerging Business
Issues. Unfortunately my teammate and I did not move on to the final round. I also competed in
a written test, Computer Applications, the test that led me here. As the days quickly went on it
was finally time for the awards. I started thinking how right everyone was about the experience
and the feeling of just being there. I found out that I did not make top five in the state. I was not
on stage awaiting my award, I was sitting in the stands watching. I put all the countless hours
and effort into something and did not receive anything out of it: no trophy, no ticket to

nationals.
They say time heals most anything, I stepped onto the bus upset that I did not receive an award, but walked off feeling proud. I felt proud of myself, of all of the positive changes in
myself, and most importantly that I put myself out there and took risks, even if I was unsure of
the outcome. After attending the state conference, it was my goal to work twice as hard the next year to make it to nationals. Even if you do not win, in the end it's about knowing you put
everything you could into it and never gave up.
If someone had told me two years ago that I will be ranked 6th in the nation for website design and third in New York for computer applications, this event would not have mattered as much. But I'm glad it did,this event made me work harder and I was more determined then ever the next year. Looking back now I'm glad this happened to me, I'm glad I lost for if I didn't I would not be a national champion