Tesla STEM shines at FBLA State Leadership Conference

Tesla STEM High School delivered an outstanding performance at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Leadership Conference, representing 106 of approximately 3,000 competitors statewide. With 218 members, Tesla STEM earned first place for the highest proportion of members to school population and second place for largest FBLA chapter in the state.

Student achievement was exceptional, with 81 students placing in the top 10 and earning 58 team and individual awards across 44 events, including an impressive 10 first‑place finishes. Many students earned recognition in multiple events. Additionally, 29 students placed in the top four, securing guaranteed qualification for the National Leadership Conference at the end of June, with others still in contention to advance.

Beyond competitions, Tesla STEM celebrated major student leadership and advisor recognition. Junior Diya Balaji was elected State Industry Relations Officer, marking the third time the school has held this state‑level office. Adding to the milestone achievements, Lori Zebrack-Smith was honored as Advisor of the Year for the second time within just a few years, highlighting the strength of mentorship behind Tesla STEM’s continued success.

Congratulations to all students, and advisors Lori Zebrack-Smith, Ryfka Schaffer and Matthew Travis, on a great showing at this state competition.

Below is a list of all the students who placed in the top ten along with the category they competed in and their placement (all students attend Tesla STEM High School unless otherwise denoted):

• Advanced Accounting
  • Jai Bindlish, Fourth Place
• Advertising
  • Adeline Wheeler, Eighth Place
• Banking & Financial Systems      
  • Jeswanth Sri Sai Battula and Maximillian Uypeckcuat, Third Place
• Broadcast Journalism     
  • Eeshan Misra and Enzo Van Thorre, Fourth Place
  • Aarav Jain and Nikhil Patil, Eighth Place
• Business Communication             
  • Raya Nur, Eighth Place
• Business Ethics 
  • Lindsey Kim and Mahi Phadke, First Place
• Business Law     
  • Anya Bammi, Ninth Place
• Business Management  
  • Adya Chandar and Diya Kowshik, Sixth Place
• Business Plan    
  • Richa Badi and Diya Balaji, First Place
  • Raehan Baliga, Vihaan Fadnavis and Rajvir Mishra, Third Place
• Career Portfolio
  • Varshini Hari, Second Place
  • Rhea Singh, Fifth Place
  • Shravan Mahesh Kumar, Eighth Place
• Coding & Programming
  • Anirudh Narasimhan, Avik Roy and Enzo Van Thorre, Third Place
  • Shriniketh Namburi, Ninth Place
• Computer Applications 
  • Rhea Singh, First Place
  • Ihita Gupta, Fifth Place
• Computer Game & Simulation Programming       
  • Jai Bindlish, Aashrith Pisupati and Pragyan Singh, Sixth Place
• Data Analysis    
  • Rhea Singh and Sophie Zhao, Seventh Place
• Digital Animation            
  • Anoushka Gharat, Anastasiya Netchaeva and Anvie Sana, Third Place
• Digital Video Production              
  • Harshini Kondaparthy and Kavya Shenoy, Third Place
• Economics          
  • Max Xie, Ninth Place
• Entrepreneurship            
  • Aaron Gu and Baivik Pani, Ninth Place
• Financial Planning
  • Himanshu Dasari and Jaskirat Singh, Second Place
• Financial Statement Analysis      
  • Varun Hari, Sriram Marasanapalle-kalle and Suvan Pal, Third Place
  • Jai Bindlish and Veda Hiremath, Ninth Place
• Future Business Educator             
  • Nandini Acharya, First Place
• Graphic Design 
  • Ashley Davison and Alicia Lin, Ninth Place
• Health Care Administration         
  • Chinmayi Buddhavarapu, First Place
• Human Resource Management 
  • Vivaan Bansal, Seventh Place
• Impromptu Speaking     
  • Ritisha Srivastava, Eighth Place
• International Business   
  • Trishaa Khanna, Redmond High School, First Place
• Introduction to Business Presentation    
  • Nikhil Patil and Alex Shibalov, Sixth Place
• Introduction to FBLA      
  • Shreyas Kedarisetty, Third Place
• Introduction to Marketing Concepts        
  • Aaron Gu, Third Place
• Introduction to Programming     
  • Aadi Gupta and Samriddhi Kandaswamy, First Place
• Journalism         
  • Itai Shaked, Eighth Place
• Management Information Systems
  • Elaine Jiang, Layla Kaim and Rhea Singh, First Place
  • Jacob Fu, Ninth Place
• Mobile Application Development             
  • Vihaan Fadnavis, Lauren Ouyang and Nimeshikaa Saravanakumar, First Place
  • Novyanna Bajracharya, Arthur Chen and Anoushka Gharat, Eighth Place
• Personal Finance              
  • David Undernehr, Fourth Place
• Public Administration & Management    
  • Sarah Nie, Second Place
  • JD Kim, Third Place
• Public Service Announcement   
  • Rohan Gupta, Rehet Hans and Tejas Panja, Fourth Place
  • Helankrutha Murugesh and Abhilasha Patil, Seventh Place
• Public Speaking
  • Veda Hiremath, First Place
  • Rafael Reyes, Third Place
• Securities & Investments             
  • Alex Shibalov, Seventh Place
• Social Media Strategies                 
  • Ava Arvind and Sarah Youn, Second Place
  • Alisha Goyal and Shriya Krishnan, Sixth Place
• Supply Chain Management         
  • Sarah Youn, Second Place
  • Diya Balaji, Seventh Place
• Website Coding & Development
  • Anirudh Narasimhan, Sathkrith Segu and Enzo Van Thorre, Fifth Place
• Website Design
  • Khush Kothari, Ayaan Oberoi and Malhar Pawar, Second Place
• Local Chapter Annual Business Report    
  • Tesla STEM High School, First Place
• On Campus Commerce
  • Tesla STEM High School, First Place