Farmington FBLA attend state leadership conference

Thirteen members of the Missouri Future Business Leaders of America Chapter from Farmington High School recently traveled to Springfield, Missouri for the Missouri Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference (SLC).

The four-day conference, which began April 12, featured workshops, keynote speakers and professional networking opportunities with Fortune 500 companies.

“The State Leadership Conference is the pinnacle of our year and it’s been a busy year,” said Carolyn Strobl, FBLA faculty adviser. “SLC is where schools get recognized for participation in the various state and national projects, as well as those students who achieved a BAA (Business Achievement Award) or CSA (Community Service Award).

“Our chapter was also recognized for making the second largest donation to March of Dimes, one of our national partners, thanks to the penny war fundraiser and Knights’ Locker donations. We had the best showing ever at SLC this year.”

FBLA junior Jacob Henderson said “SLC was such a blast! Not only did I learn a lot about FBLA and business in general, but it was also a bonding experience for our chapter.”

Freshman Samantha Warren had this to say about her first SLC, “I went to several workshops and learned a lot about how to work well with others, and I formed closer bonds with members of my chapter. I also had the rare experience of going on stage to accept my award for Introduction to Business Communications.

Senior Devin Lawson said “The SLC conference workshops offer interesting, relatable, and useful content on leadership. I have learned so much thanks to the opportunities at SLC!”

Over 5,000 students and advisers came together for the event, with over 150 business education related contests running during the event. Farmington students were involved in 20 contest events. Of those 20 events, Farmington FBLA members brought home eight Top 10 winners (10 students in the top 14), including

• *1st place: Emerging Business Issues Team (Kala Dodson, Madison Rodgers, and Ann Raymer) Not only did they place first, they got a perfect score of 100 from all three judges. (Performance event; The topic was “Should employers be allowed to required employees to be microchipped or not.” They had to present both sides.)

• *2nd place: Madelyn Mabry, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedures (written test)

• *5th place: Caitlyn Mabry, Introduction to Financial Math (written test)

• *5th place: Heather Beard, Introduction to Business Procedures (written test)

• 6th place: Management Decision Making Team: Caitlyn Mabry, Jacob Henderson, and Heather Beard (performance and test event)

• 7th place: Introduction to FBLA, Abby Hogan (written test)

• 9th place: Introduction to Business Communications, Samantha Warren (written test)

• 9th place: Who’s Who in FBLA, Ann Raymer (nominated by adviser and materials reviewed by panel)

*Competing in the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 29-July 2.

Missouri FBLA-PBL, a chartered member of National FBLA-PBL, is a registered 501(c)3. Their mission is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs. Missouri FBLA-PBL membership exceeds 15,500, making it the second largest state chapter of the organization in the nation and the second largest CTSO in Missouri.