Outgoing State Officer Team during the New York FBLA Live Awards Ceremony
Source: New York State FBLA Youtube
By Ryan Chou and Allison Li
During Spring Break, from April 7-9, Williamsville East competed at the virtual New York State FBLA State Leadership Conference (SLC). As one of the largest chapters in the state, East proved itself to be a high-performing school yet again, competing in a total of 49 events and sending three candidates running for State Office.
FBLA is a career-oriented organization that prepares students for the business world. In the 2020-2021 school year, FBLA reached over 200,000 members nationwide and more than 1,500 in New York despite the pandemic.
This year, East FBLA was able to place in 25 different events, with categories ranging from accounting to journalism and political science. Margaret Brown, outgoing State Treasurer, and Allison Li, outgoing State Parliamentarian, delivered farewell speeches during the live awards ceremony. Additionally, two East students were elected to State Office: Allison Li will be the State President (the first Asian female President in NYS FBLA history) and Ryan Chou will be the State Vice President in the 2021-2022 school year.
Those who placed in the top four for their event, not including state-only events, qualified for the virtual National Leadership Conference held from June 29-July 2. In total, East is eligible for Nationals in over 20 events! Despite the virtual circumstances, the national team has many exciting plans prepared to ensure a rewarding, interactive conference! NLC will be full of fun-filled workshops and opportunities to network and learn from the National Officers and top FBLA members throughout the nation!
Apart from winning in events and electing state officers, East also made its mark in the Program of Work. The Program of Work involves a number of goals, activities, and guidelines that chapters are challenged to compete in. These involve showing how FBLA has grown members, spreading mental health awareness, and competing in scholarship challenges. Overall, East completed all thirteen challenges, and of the five competitive challenges, placed in three of them. This is a testament to the dedication of our chapter members towards community service and leadership development – we couldn’t be prouder!
Overall, Williamsville East had a very successful year in FBLA, and it will be exciting to see how the chapter does at the National Leadership Conference.
