TEMPLE, Texas — Temple High School junior Jamarri Thrasher has earned a spot in the Virtual Business Challenge – Management National Competition next April after an outstanding performance in the qualifying round of the contest this fall.
Thrasher finished in fourth place in the first round of competition in the event sponsored by the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) to earn one of 20 spots in the national competition. There will be another qualifying round in the spring with the top finishers in that round joining the fall national qualifiers. The National Virtual Business Challenge – Management National Championship will be held April 1-5, 2024, and the top ten finishers in that event will be recognized and walk the stage at the FBLA National Leadership Conference. The final round of competition will build on the experience the competitors went through in the qualifying rounds.
“When I say I want to do something, I really commit to doing it and that is what I did here. I made the commitment to work hard and put in the extra effort finish in the top five,” Thrasher said. “The competition was all about finding the right people to fit the company and that also helped my develop as a leader. I could control the entire team to make sure I had the right person to help our profits go through the roof. I already had some knowledge about production rates and things like that from previous experience, and I was just able to apply that and use the knowledge I gained to be successful.”
The Virtual Business Challenge – Management is a rigorous competition that tests participants skills in strategic management and decision-making within a simulated business environment. Students were assigned management of a bicycle manufacturing business during the fall qualifying round. Competitors were limited as to the concepts they could control during the round, but skills involved ranged from recruiting/hiring/supervising employees to risk management to organizing floor layouts to bidding on orders. At the end of the round, competitors were ranked based on their business’ cumulative profit after running the simulation for six virtual months.
“I had a chance to go to nationals in this event twice when I was in high school and words don’t do the experience of going to nationals justice,” said Adam Duvall, advisor of Temple High School’s FBLA chapter. “That is one of the reasons I wanted to start FBLA at the high school. To see a student so invested and committed to the event and qualifying for nationals is surreal. To say I am excited and proud is an understatement because Jamarri has done an amazing job and I look forward to seeing him compete in the finals.”
The Temple HS chapter of FBLA only started last school year and Thrasher is the first student to qualify for national competition since the chapter was chartered. He was honored for his accomplishment at the Temple ISD Board of Trustees meeting on Monday (November 13).