BY KARISSA MILLER
Local high school students recently participated in the 2025 North Carolina Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Northwest Regional Leadership Conference at Mitchell Community College. The event was hosted by Crossroads Arts and Science Early College.
Crossroads student and N.C. FBLA Northwest Region Vice President Quincy Sherrill welcomed students from Crossroads, Lake Norman High and Davie High School and detailed the events for the day.
Joining the conference were FBLA officers Claire Ding, Triangle East State Parliamentarian from Enloe High School, and Rithika Kapu, Triangle East Vice President from Green Hope High School.
Throughout the day, students participated in workshops and competitive events showcasing their skills in public speaking, career preparation and knowledge of various business-related topics.
“FBLA has boosted my confidence and helped me become a better business leader,” said Lake Norman student Anuj Nashine.
Student Parker Shrigley agreed.
“It helped me step of out of my comfort zone … it taught me that finance is a field I want to pursue in the future. FBLA has been a big part of that,” Shrigley explained.
Local magician and keynote speaker Chris Benfield presented “Mr. Marvel’s Magic Show.”
Benfield captured the audience’s attention with a variety of tricks, including a card trick where a card in a person’s hand swaps places with another person’s card in their hand.
He also shared valuable life lessons and shared some proud moments from throughout his career.
“I can’t tell you the number of times that someone has come up to me, out of the blue, that I met them and they said, ‘You said something to me a long time ago – and I took that to heart,’ ” he said.
“Hopefully, that will happen to you guys — one day, that something you said will mean something or have an effect on someone. I hope the things I do with this have a positive effect,” he added.
Benfield told students that he has presented an antibullying program for elementary students for nine years.
“If I have been 1 percent effective, with over 15,000 kids seeing it …that’s 150 kids,” Benfield told the students.
If a student that bully picks on another student 100 times a year, then he has prevented students from getting bullied 15,000 times.
“That’s 15,000 scars that don’t exist,” he said. “The ripples we make.”
Advisor Tracy Skeens said she’s proud of her students.
“It was great to see my entire chapter really shine and they banned together,” Skeens said.
Skeens said one of her students was in tears and rushed out of a competitive event without fully finishing. However, upon learning that the student didn’t realize the event was over, the judges let the student finish the interview.
Despite all of this, the student actually performed well and received a medal.
Skeens said that events, such as public speaking, really push students out of their comfort zones.
Skeens was pleased that so many of her students placed in competitive events. Those students, she explained, will advance to the state conference in March.
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