Goble going to nationals

Submitted Photo Samantha Goble shows an award she earned during the FBLA Leadership Conference in Little Rock April 16. Submitted Photo Senior Samantha Goble poses with award she earned at the Future Business Leaders of America state competition held in Little Rock April 16. Goble will compete in the national competition in Chicago June 27 and is the first student from Decatur to qualify for this contest.
Submitted Photo Samantha Goble shows an award she earned during the FBLA Leadership Conference in Little Rock April 16. Submitted Photo Senior Samantha Goble poses with award she earned at the Future Business Leaders of America state competition held in Little Rock April 16. Goble will compete in the national competition in Chicago June 27 and is the first student from Decatur to qualify for this contest.

DECATUR -- Many firsts have occurred this school year for members of the Decatur High School senior class as graduation looms on the horizon. For one senior, the chance to earn a distinctive place in DHS history became a reality.

Samantha Goble placed second in the Help Desk competition at the Future Business Leaders of America State Leadership Conference in Little Rock April 16.

The Help Desk event provides recognition for FBLA members who demonstrate an understanding of and ability to provide technical assistance to end users. It is an individual event that consists of two parts, an objective test and a performance evaluation. The objective test is taken first and the top 10 highest scoring students advance to the final round and participate in the performance component.

This was the first time that a Decatur FBLA student participated in this category. Goble was given a technical problem that she first analyzed and then came up with the best way to resolve the problem. She had two months to work on the project.

"I had to play out my scenario before a panel of three judges," Goble said. "I had to play out the problem as if I was in a real help-desk situation, on the phone, helping a customer resolve his technical issues."

Goble qualified to compete at the FBLA National Leadership Conference, June 27 to July 3 in Chicago. She is the first FBLA student from Decatur Schools to ever qualify for nationals in any event. In her event, she received almost perfect scores from all three judges.

"I will spend the next few weeks working on help-desk problems," Goble said. "I look forward to the week in Chicago and I hope to bring another first home to Decatur."

General News on 04/29/2015