Future Business Leaders of America Spring Conference

This year, the Lake Region Future Business Leaders of America Chapter (FBLA) went to the first in-person Spring Leadership Conference in four years. The Chapter sent six students for the night in the Comfort Inn in Burlington, VT with the Lake Region Chapter Advisor Betsy Calhoun. One more student joined the group the next day due to prior commitments the night before. Of the seven students that attended the conference, two were on the Vermont State Officer Team: McKenna Blay as the Vermont Northern Vice President, and Emma Locke-McAllister as the Vermont State Historian. These two students, as well as the four others on the state team, ran the Spring Conference with the help of their Vermont State Director Krista Chadwick, and the Vermont State Assistant Director Taylor Lane. 

When the Lake Region students arrived in Burlington on March 16th at around 11:00 in the morning, they gathered all competition, campaign and personal materials and brought them into the hotel. At around noon, the group headed out for a quick lunch and then kicked off a day of team bonding with an escape room. While the group was unsuccessful at escaping in time, they were able to get a little closer as a team and work more on communicating clearly. The Lake Region group then went to Sparetime. They bowled a few games, played some games in the arcade and played laser tag. The top student Bowler for the first game was Srisakul (Jean) Thummavut, the top for the second game was Emma Locke-McAllister, and the top scorer in laser tag was McKenna Blay. The students showed off their bowling prowess and cheering skills in the lanes, and worked as a team to gain points and strategize in  laser tag. Throughout the day, students got to work with lots of different forms of communication while bonding more closely with their other chapter members. 

The Conference was held on March 17th at Champlain College. There were a little over two hundred students, advisors, presenters, and guests present. Students went to two workshops of their choosing, ranging from Dining Etiquette to Test Taking Skills (run by the Lake Region FBLA Advisor Betsy Calhoun). At this conference, Lake Region had two students running for a position in the State Officer Team. Emma Locke-McAllister ran to be the Vermont State President, and Maia Young ran to be the Vermont State Secretary. Throughout the day, they had to mix and mingle with as many people as they could, as well as campaign with their tables, and give candidate speeches in front of all of the attending guests. At the end of the day was the closing ceremony where the results of the competitions were announced. There were several categories of competition: objective tests (a 100 question test done before the conference), presentation events where students would present on specific topics in a timed video format and sometimes in front of live judges, production events were students had to create and item such as a functional video game or website, and competitions that had more than one of these tests/events required for completion. 

The Lake Region High school FBLA chapter took home the Scrapbook award, as well as the Vermont Outstanding Chapter award. Individual Lake Region students placed in many competitions events this year as well. McKenna Blay placed first in Agribusiness, Future Business Leader, Health care Administration, Insurance and Risk Management, and Parliamentary Procedure, she received second in Securities and Investments, she placed third in Personal Finance, and received and Honorable Mention in Broadcast Journalism, as well as receiving a Who’s Who award from the State Team. All around a very good list for the graduating senior. The only other senior in Lake Region FBLA this year, Srisakul (Jean) Thummavut, an exchange student from Thailand, did not place in any events this year, but was in charge of composing the winning scrapbook. Emma Locke-McAllister, a junior this year and the Lake Region Chapter President placed First in Supply Chain Management, second in Future Business Leader, Hospitality and Event Management (Team), and International Business Team, and third in Organizational Leadership. She also got awarded the Who’s Who award from Lake Region Union High School. The other junior in Lake Region’s FBLA Chapter that competed, Cayden Stevens, placed second in both Business Law and Spreadsheet applications. 

This year Lake Region FBLA had two sophomores who placed in events Xaviar Chapdelaine and Maia Young. Xavier placed in five events this year and received one honorable mention. Xavier got his honorable mention in his Broadcast Journalism team event with his event partner McKenna Blay. Xavier placed first in Introduction to FBLA, second in Hospitality and Event Management (Team), International Business (Team), and Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure, he placed third in Introduction to Business Communication. The other Lake Region FBLA sophomore this year, Maia Young, placed in five events this year. She placed first in Introduction to Business Procedures, and Introduction to Event Planning. Maia placed second in Hospitality and Event Management (Team), and the International Business team event. She also placed third in one event this year, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedures. Lake Region also had a freshman turnout this year as well, which is always a good sign for chapter numbers in the years to come. There were two competing and placing freshmen this year, both placing in three events (a very good number for new members). Braiden Demers placed first in Introduction to Marketing Concepts, second in Introduction to Business Procedures, and third in Business Law. Brooklynne Matten placed second in Introduction to FBLA and Introduction to Business Concepts, as well as third in Introduction to Business Procedures. Overall, the students had a very strong standing at the State Conference this year reflecting well on their chapter, and their school. While other schools use FBLA as class material, Lake Region uses the program as an after school organization giving students in the Lake Region chapter a natural disadvantage that the students did a very good job at overcoming within this FBLA year. 

It was a very active event with many achievements for each and every student involved, and was overall a very successful day for Lake Region Students. This was all accomplished because of the Local Chapter Offices, Betsy Calhoun their advisors, the State Team and the State Advisor Krista Chadwick. Thank you everyone for all of your hard work during the year to make this conference possible for our Lake Region students. 

Written By: McKenna Blay LRUHS FBLA Reporter, and State Northern Vice President