Sherwood club Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) attended the annual Maryland FBLA Student Leadership Conference in Ocean City this past March and competed against more than 60 other Maryland high schools. Twenty-seven Sherwood students competed at states in 2026 compared to five students at last year’s competition.

Now, for three Sherwood competitors, Nationals are on the horizon. Sophomore Rinaya Sivakumar placed first in the Business Plan event at states. Juniors Gabriella Laing and Yasmin Sheikh qualified for Nationals as a duo by placing 3rd in Social Media Strategies. This year, the National Competition will take place in San Antonio, Texas from June 29 to July 2.

“My biggest hope for our three National qualifiers is not an award …I want them to soak up the atmosphere, meet people from states they’ve never visited, and come back to Sherwood with a perspective that’s bigger than just our hallways.” said club sponsor Kimberly Coleman.

Sherwood FBLA has grown exponentially through creative fundraisers that continue to garner attention for the club. FBLA members bake and decorate cupcakes to sell via preorder, and often standard order. While delivering the cupcake vouchers, which students can trade in for the physical cupcake during lunch, FBLA members dress up as the Grinch, leprechauns, dinosaurs, and even easter eggs to bring smiles to people’s faces.

At the state competition, students competed in a plethora of business topics including Accounting, Business Plan, Public Speaking, and Social Media Strategies. For competition, students chose from a variety of competition types. Some students chose a presentation, where they had seven minutes to present a response to a prompt that students receive months prior to the competition. Other types of competition are role play and objective tests. Students who competed at states aimed to place in the top four of their category in order to qualify for Nationals.

At states, students were also able to attend workshops, opportunities to sharpen personal business and financial skills. Students attended workshops on Public Speaking, Financial Literacy, College Prep, Resume Building, Dressing for Success and many more varying workshops.

FBLA isn’t just about competition. “FBLA teaches you by experience how to walk into a room, greet strangers, and introduce yourself with confidence,” said Coleman. FBLA prepares students for non-business careers as well.

Sivakumar shared her desire to go into the field of pediatric oncology, a field focused on diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children. “Connection with people and presenting information in a way to appeal to them is something FBLA has helped me with a lot,” said Sivakumar.