Cypress Woods Students Earn National Recognition

HOUSTON: Cypress Woods sophomores Govind Chada and Aayush Gupta were among the 9600 of America’s best and brightest students who traveled to Maryland to FBLA National Leadership Conference held June 28-July 1. Govind and Aayush earned their berth at the national competition after winning first place at the Texas State Leadership Conference.

Govind and Aayush designed and developed a mobile application from the ground up to manage and distribute books in a library using technologies such as iOS, Google Firebase and Agile development methodologies. The competition judged the application quality using criteria such as ease of use, social media integration, graphics and robustness. The students were also judged on their ability to deliver a business presentation highlighting the value and impact of their solution. Competing with 70+ top teams in the nation, they made it to the final round after going through the elimination round. After an outstanding performance in the finals, Govind and Aayush were recognized with a 10th place award at the Awards of Excellence Program during the closing ceremony.

“Govind and Aayush have shown great passion and initiative throughout the year to develop a mobile application that solves a real business problem,” said Lori Andrade, Cypress Woods FBLA club adviser. “The project required hundreds of hours of effort and was many months in the making and it is rewarding to see them succeed at the highest levels.”

The award was part of a comprehensive national competitive events program sponsored by FBLA-Phi Beta Lambda that recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas. For many students, the events are the capstone activity of their academic careers.

In addition to competitions, students immersed themselves in interactive workshops, visited an information-packed exhibit hall, and heard from motivational speakers on a broad range of business topics.