By Melissa Li
This year’s New York FBLA State Leadership Conference was the biggest in history, with over 610 members and advisors attending the 3-day event held in the Rochester Radisson Riverside Hotel and Convention Center. SLC is the culmination of a year’s worth of effort for the state organization. There, members compete in business-related events, attend workshops, vote for next year’s state officer team, and network through a variety of social activities, including two themed dances and a movie night. From an opening session featuring the state officer team dancing Uptown Funk to the riveting Awards of Excellence ceremony, the state conference is a week full of achievement, fun, and putting your best business forward.
70 Williamsville East students attended SLC, again making ours the largest delegation to States. But this year’s conference was not without its share of snags. Upon arrival in Rochester, the chapter had to contend with a missing luggage truck, suitcases left in Buffalo, and a complicated registration process which unfortunately involved sticking double sided tape onto 480 separate pieces of ribbon. The worst of the ordeal happened when another high school chapter accidentally set off the hotel’s fire sprinkler system, flooding the entire 7th floor. Of course, Williamsville East’s hotel rooms were located on the 7th floor. And this occurred around 30 minutes before the first competitions of the conference. But the state organization and our school’s chaperones handled the situation very efficiently, allowing students to enter their first competition dressed in casual attire. This is the first time in recent memory that the NYS FBLA dress code has ever been overturned, but it was a wise judgement call considering most of our chapter’s business clothes were soaked through with over 300 gallons of water.
Fire sprinkler mishap aside, Williamsville East performed extremely well at this year’s SLC. Over 50 students placed in their competitive events, and around 30 of those qualified to attend the National Conference this summer in Chicago, Illinois. This has been Williamsville East FBLA’s most successful states showing yet. Additionally, East has yet again elected a full slate of NYS FBLA state officers: Aniruddha Nrusimha was elected State Secretary, Sarah Wie was elected State Vice President for District 12, and Shubhangi Mehra was appointed State Parliamentarian. Shubhangi is also applying for the position of 2015-16 National Parliamentarian. Congratulations to the winners and good luck to all at Nationals! A full list of winners is printed below:
3D Animation, 1st Place – Andrew Collura, Vincent Orlowski and Cameron Smith
Accounting II, 2nd Place – Renuka Kannappan, 5th Place – Jack Moser
Agribusiness, 1st – Alexa Muir
Banking and Financial Systems, 4th – Alexa Muir and Renuka Kannappan
Business Communication, 3rd – Patrick Irving
Business Math, 3rd – Ann Wang
Business Procedures, 1st – Sarah Wie
Computer Game Simulation, 1st – Ryan Mikulec and Aniruddha Nrusimha
Computer Problem Solving, 2nd – Evan Ogra, 4th – Eddie Shen
Cyber Security, 2nd – Evan Ogra
Digital Design and Promotion, 3rd – Seth Blum, Carlos Reyes, and Ben Zhao
Digital Video Production, 2nd – Michelle Dao, Claire Kim, and Ananya Nrushimha
E-Business, 2nd -Jayden Bang, Divija Kambala, and Brian Suk
Electronic Career Portfolio, 4th – Himasaimanogna Chintala
Emerging Business Issues, 4th – David Fan and Patrick Irving
FBLA Principles and Procedures, 1st – Morgan Anwer, 3rd – Alanna Kramer
Global Business, 3rd – Ananya Nrusimha, Leena Sen, Connie An
Help Desk, 2nd – Allison Scumaci
Hospitality Management, 2nd – Caroline Wang and Michelle Dao
Insurance and Risk Management, 1st – Melissa Li, 5th – Claire Kim
Intro to Business, 1st – Madeleine MacLean
Intro to Business Communication, 1st – Sarina Divan, 2nd – Sherrie Wang
Intro to Info Tech, 2nd – Ann Wang, 3rd – Nidish Gokhale
Intro to Parliamentary Procedure, 3rd – Madeleine MacLean, 5th – Ruby Zhang
Intro to Word Processing, 1st – Sherrie Wang
Mobile App Development, 3rd – David Fan, Ryan Mikulec and Aniruddha Nrushimha
Network Design, 2nd – Edward Shen, Evan Ogra and Nikhil Gupta
Outstanding New Member 3rd – Ruby Zhang
Parliamentary Procedure Individual, 4th – Shubhangi Mehra
Parliamentary Procedure Team, 1st – Sarah Wie, Shubhangi Mehra, Robin Marshall, Keenan Sinha and Brian Suk
Personal Finance, 1st – Shubhangi Mehra
Public Service Announcement, 4th – Himasai Manogna Chintala, Michelle Dao and Lisa He
Securities and Investments, 2nd – Alexa Muir
Spreadsheet Applications, 2nd – Yue Shi
Website Design, 5th – Emily Shi, Edward Shen and Sina Soltanieh
Future Business Leader, 5th – Melissa Li
Chapter of the Year, 5th – Williamsville East
