Lemont Racks Up Nine Top-10 finishes at FBLA State Leadership Conference

Students from Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) placed among the top ten in nine of the 15 categories in which they were entered at the 2014 Illinois FBLA State Leadership Conference, which was held in Springfield, Ill., on March 28-29. The 2014 FBLA State Leadership Conference featured more than 70 event categories and attracted more than 1,450 student competitors from across the state.

Lemont’s top efforts were a pair of third-place finishes, including the team of sophomores Taylor Campos, Paulina Cygan and Alexis Mufarreh in Business Management Decision Making, and senior Kevin Trojak in Accounting II.

Sophomore Spenser Bailey earned fourth place in Business Communication, while sophomore Olivia Matthews - who won a state title in the Public Speaking I category in 2013 - was fifth in Public Speaking II. Senior Ryan Bishop was sixth in Web Site Design, and senior Austin Economos finished seventh in Economics.

Lemont had three more teams finish among the top ten in their respective categories. Junior Santino Fortino, sophomore Ace Matthews and freshman Faraz Longi were seventh in Entrepreneurship; senior Kieran Ruane and juniors John Bermele and Eric Whatley were seventh in Emerging Business Issues; and juniors Emma O’Leary and Bansi Padalia ended up eighth in Business Ethics. 

Other state competitors included senior Adam Strube; juniors Simon Batistich, Radomir Fugiel, Connor Koehler, Tyler Schoell and Will Totura; and sophomores Misbah Chagpar, Ankit Joshi, Julissa Nuñez and Mike Prasauskas.

Lemont’s FBLA chapter fared well at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, which was contested at Lincoln-Way East High School on January 18. Lemont won eight event titles, totaled nine runner-up finishes, and placed competitors among the top three in 20 of 22 events in which it was entered.

Lemont students placed first in six individual events and two team competitions. Seniors Maggie Ernst and Bridget Lynn won in the Community Service Project category; and seniors Lizzy Forzley and Alexandra Ziogas and junior Ariana Ziogas teamed to triumph in Entrepreneurship.

Individual event winners included Cygan (Introduction to Business), Economos (Economics), Nuñez (Impromptu Speaking), Trojak (Accounting II), junior Katie Atherton (Computer Applications) and freshman Megan Atherton (Word Processing).

Lemont’s FBLA chapter, which advanced to state competition for the fifth straight year, is co-sponsored by teachers John Aspel and Bill Mondrella. The FBLA is the largest business career student organization in the world, and its high school division includes 215,000 students worldwide. Illinois’ chapter of the FBLA may be found at www.fbla.gen.il.us.

For more information, contact Director of School and Community Relations Tony Hamilton (tonyh@lemont.k12.il.us) at (630) 243-3280.