Michael Goldfarb, who will be entering his junior year at Jericho High School next month, recently attended the Future Business Leaders of America Conference (FBLA), a professional association for students pursuing business careers, in Dallas, Texas.

Goldfarb participated in a competition that was held in Rochester, NY, in April and competed in three different competitions. He placed in the top five in all three of them, but in business math he came in first in New York State - he scored 98 out of 100. Goldfarb was then invited to represent New York State in Dallas, Texas at the National Leadership Conference. "This was the pinnacle of the FBLA year," said Goldfarb. "I was the first person in Jericho to go to a national FBLA competition. I went with my mom and took the test again there. I came in fifth place in the nation on that test."

Goldfarb was in Dallas from June 22-28. After the conference, he went to a summer program at Penn State University for a program where he is taking a college class, Introduction to American Government, and a high school level enrichment class - calculus. He also takes driver's education classes and tennis lessons as well as some planned social events.

When Goldfarb was entering ninth grade at Jericho High School, someone told him about FBLA at freshman orientation and it really sparked his interest.

"I am looking to go into business and then politics in the future," said Goldfarb. "I admire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and try and model myself after him in many ways. He has done everything that I would like to - go into business first and succeed there and then use the influence gained in that field to move into politics."

Goldfarb enjoyed his experience with FBLA. "There are seminars and it is a great way to meet a lot of people," he said. "Everyone there is interested in business and it is nice to network and meet people with the same interests as me. I am excited that I got to experience this and bring what I learned back to the other people in the club. Hopefully next year there will be a larger contingency from Jericho - some schools had as many as 15 people. It is a great way to meet some great and successful students. It was a great learning experience."

The almost 7,000 delegates to the National Leadership Conference participated in a structured, four-day meeting for each division that included business and leadership training workshops and seminars, corporate tours and the election of national officers.