The Tamaqua Area School Board on Tuesday recognized a student for his Top 10 finish in personal finance at Future Business Leaders of America’s National Leadership Conference in Florida.

Administrators and school board members applauded Ignatius Neifert, who placed eighth in his first national competition during the conference in Orlando from June 29 to July 2.

Neifert will be a senior at Tamaqua Area High School this fall and president of school’s FBLA chapter.

Neifert told the board that he did a lot of studying to prepare for the national competition after his second place finish at states.

“I wanted to make the trip worth it,” he said. “I just did my best and tackled it really well.

“I’ll be back next year, so maybe I’ll do better,” Neifert said, looking forward to competition during his senior year.

The national conference attracted more than 80,000 middle, high school and college students, and educators and volunteers, Tom McCabe, high school principal, told the board during its committee meeting.

“Ignatius’ accomplishments are awe-inspiring and he deserves recognition from all of us for representing Tamaqua Area High School so well at a national competition,” he said. “Congratulations to Iggy, his parents and family.”

This was also the first year for Tamaqua Area’s FBLA chapter, having started at the beginning of 2023-24 school year.