TOWAMENCIN- Senior Neelay Velingker has kept himself busy throughout his years at North Penn, but one thing he will never get tired of is his involvement in the Future Business Leaders of America. Even though he is a part of programming club, National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Spikeball Club, and North Penn tennis, Velingker continues to give it his all when it comes to FBLA competitions.

After joining FBLA sophomore year with little to no clue what the club was about, Velingker strived to gain knowledge and enthusiasm, which ended up bringing him to places like Anaheim, California.

“[I] just picked up some forms from the activities fair because it sounded interesting and decided to give it a try,” Velingker shared.

Since his sophomore activities fair, Velingker has held two officer positions in the club: co-treasurer junior year and co-president senior year.

Like stated before, he has also been given the opportunity to travel the country in pursuit for academic competitions and networking opportunities.

“The club allows me to travel the country and meet a lot of different people, while at the same time engaging me academically,” said Velingker.

The summer of 2018 is what truly reflected Velingker’s skills, as he placed first in the mobile application development event with his two partners, North Penn graduates Chris Seiler and Tejas Priyadarshi.

After a short drive to Baltimore, Maryland, North Penn’s mobile application development team was given the chance to present their app in front of a panel of judges in hopes of winning the first place prize at the 2018 FBLA National Leadership Conference. The topic for this specific event was to create an application for a library catalog system, similar to the one at North Penn. In fact, the data in the app was used from North Penn’s library. The app they created, Kolb Library, allowed users to search for books, make reservations, and view publisher information. All the user had to do to access its features was sign in with his or her google account.

After hours and hours of creation and practice, they presented it in front of the national judges. The result was much more than they ever expected.

The night of the awards ceremony approached without warning. At the national level, the top ten teams are called on stage to receive recognition, trophies, and scholarships. North Penn’s team was one of them.

“I was excited to be up there. The one thing I realized was that I was looking around and it was like Cupertino, California, where Apple is or Silicon Valley where all of these huge startups are. I said man we’re really against these high caliber kids…the best of the best,” expressed Velingker.

After the second place winner was announced, Velingker and his teammates were the last standing on the stage viewed by thousands of students and advisors from across the nation. Pennsylvania’s section grew loud with cheers as Velingker grabbed his award and his $1,200 scholarship that was split amongst the three of them.

It is now the new FBLA season and Velingker is once again going for the gold. His past experience was “definitely life changing” and he is ready for more.