East Wins Big at States 2015

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Members receiving district competition awards.
Members receiving district competition awards.
FBLA chapter officers with Ms. Anzalone and Mr. Taylor. (And that 5th place trophy.)
FBLA chapter officers with Ms. Anzalone and Mr. Taylor. (And that 5th place trophy.)

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