LHS' FBLA Chapter Totals 15 First Place Finishes In Competition

LEMONT, IL — Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America placed in the top three in all but one of its 23 events in a regional event that serves as a tune-up for state competition. Lemont racked up 15 event wins at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, which was contested at Coal City High School on Jan. 13. The school said Lemont will compete at the 2018 Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference in Springfield on April 6-7.

According to the school, students in Lemont’s FBLA chapter were among more than 160 competitors representing seven Chicago area high schools at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, a one-day event that included business and leadership training workshops and seminars, in addition to the competitive events.

Lemont students placed first in eight individual events and seven team competitions, the school said. Individual event winners included seniors Reece Graham (Computer Problem Solving), Martynas Juskelis (Securities & Investments), Joe Kelly (Accounting II), Andrew Kuziel (Economics) and Alex Paulius (Insurance & Risk Management); juniors Matt Krueger (Accounting I) and Anna Mietus (Broadcast Journalism); and freshman Devin Shah (Intro to Information Technology).

Seniors Melissa Danilov and Agnes Zelvys topped all competitors in Business Ethics; seniors Nathan Barry, Andres De La Vega and Avyay Suri prevailed in E-Business; juniors Brett Abbott and Andrew Deuschle won in Entrepreneurship; seniors Adam Fugiel and Sachan Shah were victorious in Global Business; seniors Saher Rashid and Julie Stanwyck triumphed in Public Service Announcement; seniors Sean Haughey, Easton Tally and Matt Zima took top honors in Sports & Entertainment Management; and juniors Alex Fugiel, Gavin Pawell and Arijus Trakymas were tops in Web Design.

The school said Lemont also had two runner-up finishes in team competition and three in individual events. Sophomores Abigail Belsan and Caroline Bukowski teamed for second in Hospitality Management, and juniors Ella Pelen and Briley Rakow were second in Intro to Business Presentation. Other second place finishers included senior Trevor Graham (Health Care Administration) and sophomores Linas Juskelis (Future Business Leader) and Louka Ziogas (Introduction to Business).

Freshmen Karolina Gal and Kelsi Padalia teamed for third in Emerging Business Issues, while junior Kirsten Kash was third in Social Media Campaign.

According to the school, Lemont’s FBLA chapter has won at least one event state title in six of its last eight years. The FBLA is the largest business career student organization in the world, and includes 215,000 students worldwide in its high school division. Illinois’ chapter of the FBLA may be found on the Web at www.fbla.gen.il.us. Lemont’s FBLA chapter is sponsored by teacher John Aspel.

Photos provided by Lemont High School.