During the week of April 6th and 7th, FBLA chapters from across Illinois migrated to Springfield for the annual FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) State Leadership Conference and competition.  Red Bud’s own chapter did not fail to accompany the others.  At the competition, advisory, competitors, and onlookers gave it their all and watched in awe.

Competitors perform in front of judges who rate them not only on the projects themselves, but also on how their presentation.  The competitions range from Public Speaking to Coding/Programming to Business Management, among many others.  Over the two days members fail and succeed, go home disappointed and ecstatic, and leave empty handed and with plaques and medals in hand.

While competitors show up and give it their all, others who either chose not to compete or chose an event which was taken on a computer prior to the conference attend seminars teaching them to become better in the business world and build skills to help them later in life.  Our RBHS FBLA had six members attend this year:  Senior and President Hannah Piel, Senior Alex Scheffert, Juniors Alex Sievers and Caleb Langrehr, and Freshmen Owen Fahey and Paul Cowsert.  Of our members, three placed in their respective areas:  Hannah Piel placed 7th in Impromptu Speaking, Owen Fahey earned 2nd in the Introduction to Information Technology, and Paul Cowsert took the thunderous applause from our 6 person team when he claimed 1st in Introduction to Information Technology.  Yes, RBHS claimed the top two spots in the testing area.  Paul and Owen, and possibly Hannah, have earned the opportunity to continue on to Baltimore, Maryland for the National FBLA Competition in June.

Our chapter was valiantly led by first year sponsors Anne Sievers and Tracey Simpson.  A big congratulations to them as the chapter could not have done it without the two leaders as we also earned the Presidential Award for increasing membership in our chapter.  Good luck to the advancing members and a great job to the whole group.