Business students are currently readying themselves for their trip down to state this weekend.

The high school students at Lake Zurich belonging to the club of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), have been busy preparing for the state competitions held on the 24th and 25th of March in Crowne Plaza, Springfield, Illinois.

The event will last for two days. To qualify, students had to place in the top 25% among their peers in order to go to state to represent their school. The students partaking in the event will take a series of four tests to become eligible for the final during their assigned event, this will allow the top four students to be selected to compete in nationals next year where an upward of 12,000 students could attend.

Group Event: PSA
By: Ria Talukdar

Samhita Tammana and Miriam Chung, seniors, will be making their way to Springfield on March 24th and 25th to compete at FBLA’s statewide competition, after qualifying at regionals. The competition consists of events varying from economics to social media management, according to Tamanna. This year, the duo will be competing in the public service announcement (PSA) field.

“The way public service announcement works is that they give you a topic and it’s your job to prepare a thirty second video, raising awareness towards whatever issue you’re assigned,” Tammana says. “The topic isn’t really what’s important. It’s how you present and deal with it that the judges really care about.”

This year’s topic? Drones. According to Tammana, her and Chung spent much of their time outside of school preparing for the competition. They, with no prior knowledge about drones, researched and met with each other frequently to develop their video.

“There’s a lot of personal accountability,” Chung says. “We have club meetings in the morning on Wednesdays, but preparation for your event is all individual. It’s your job to get your work done outside of school. You have to commit to your field.”

Research is not the only important factor in their competition. According to Chung, social skills are as vitally important to a successful performance as quality research can be.

“You really have to be clear-spoken. Half the points come from presentation skills and visuals,” Chung says. “You need to come across professional and clean. At the end of the day, it’s about creating relationships with people and being social.”

The workload can be a lot, but both Chung and Tammana can testify that it’s all well worth it at the end of the day. Chung, who says she’s never had a previous interest in business, acquired many skills she believes will be useful as an adult. Tammana says it’s taught her how to work well with people and improved her public speaking and social skills.

“We meet so many cool people. Some of the kids are our age and already have their own businesses,” Tammana says. “The opportunity to travel and meeting new people through FBLA teaches you a lot of skills I’d have never learned without joining this club.”

Individual Event: Economics
By: Ian Iacullo

Alex Li, senior co-president of FBLA, says he has spent hours every week studying to prepare for State. This preparation was coupled with regular club meetings and his enrollment of classes such as AP Economics and Business Calculations.

Li is no rookie. He said his time spent working as co-president of the FBLA alongside fellow organizer Tammana has taught him a lot.

“Two years ago, I qualified for nationals. The workshops at State bring a lot of unique people that teach students really important lessons about business. I once met a sports marketing agent who worked with important people like Lebron James and Steph Curry,” Li said, emphasising the lessons that can be learned from involvement in FBLA.

At state, students will participate in different events. Li will take one test in the economics category while other students test in different events based on their own merits. Depending on his score, he could again be accepted into the competition for nationals, which he said is an important goal for him.

Medals are awarded to the top ten competitors with up to $1500 being awarded to first place, and around $600-$1000 going down the charts to fourth place. Li agreed the money and recognition are both motivating factors that push students to try their very best.

“Leadership is important in FBLA; the former president of our club actually went on to become a successful entrepreneur,” said Li. “The club teaches you to enter the real world. If I pick out the most valuable thing about this club it would be meeting new people, and being taught interpersonal skills.”

Individual Event: Journalism and Business Communications
By: Anna Moodhe

Meggie Furlong, junior, and Annie Li, sophomore, are big on communication, so much that Furlong is heading to FBLA’s State competition for Journalism and Li is competing for Introduction to Business Communications.

“I took a test on Journalism at the school a couple weeks before the convention. It was on the computer and was 100 questions about Journalism,” Furlong said about the way she made it to State.

Several people took tests based off of what they knew in their category. People who have the highest scores in their category go to State and compete against other people in their same category. Also, within the State convention, there are seminars that students can attend while not presenting for their event, Furlong explained.

“I heard about FBLA and was excited to join. I joined Introduction to Business Communications.” Li said.

“The last president of FBLA was on my cross country team and loved FBLA and talked it up so much and she convinced me to join,” Furlong, said.

Once all of the contestants have competed at State, they will receive their test scores and see if they will move on to nationals.

Group Event: Marketing
By: Emma Brumage-Kilcourse 

Juniors Carley Peldiak and McKenna Toussaint competed in marketing. Peldiak loves FBLA because it lets her develop her business acumen. She wants to be a business-woman when she grows up, following the family tradition of her father and grandfather. However, not all FBLA members want to be business-people in a traditional sense.

“There’s journalism, which Meggie [Furlong] competed in,” she said, as well as many other events.

Some events are only open for certain classes– for example, Intro to Marketing can only be entered by freshmen and sophomores. Peldiak joined as a sophomore, and was soon chosen to be an officer.

Now, she is the Marketing Chair for the club, in charge of recruiting people, setting up fundraising events, and making posters and materials for the club.

Peldiak loves “encouraging other people to be involved in business,” she said, and loves using FBLA to pursue her passion for business.

Individual Event: Organizational Leadership
By: Valerie Multra

Grace Kinsey, junior FBLA vice president, is among those going to Springfield, Illinois and competing in one of the 60 categories available.

“This year I am in organizational leadership, which is lots of questions about how to motivate people, and responsibilities of different types of leaders,” Kinsey said.

The state trip, which helps leadership skills and teaches essential skills, is one of the biggest parts of being an FBLA member, according to Kinsey. She has been part of the team for three years and went to state last year as well.

“[I’m most looking forward to] going to the workshops with students from other schools and getting to meet really quality people,” Kinsey said.

From being a part of FBLA since freshman year, this club has affected Kinsey by helping her become more of a leader and taught her many important life skills. Now as an upperclassmen, she is planning on going into business in college.

Individual Event: Introduction to Business
By: Meghan Warner

Despite studying and preparing for his Intro to Business test, Lukas Troutman, sophomore, missed his shot to compete at State, making the top 50th percentile. Although Troutman did not qualify, he says he found the silver lining.

“Of course I was disappointed, but I was happy for the opportunity,” Troutman said. “I’ve learned how to be a good leader, and how to be really goal oriented.”

Troutman has not only gained some imminent life lessons, along with some great friends too, he said.  

“My favorite thing about FBLA is the people I have met, I have met some great friends through the club,” Troutman said.

According to Troutman, his disappointment has only made him want to work harder next year. Troutman plans on joining FBLA again next year, in hopes of redemption for his journey to State.