After competing in the Spring District Meeting of District 3N, the students of the John Jay High School chapter of FBLA began to prepare for the next big competition ahead of them: the State Leadership Conference, which took place April 13th through 15th. This competition included schools from all over New York state, and contained almost a thousand competitors. Presentations were constructed, tests were labored over, and individual performance events were practiced until they could be recited in sleep. Then, on Tuesday, April 12th, it was time. The students brought their luggage in the morning and spent the rest of the school day in a nervous jitter, unable to concentrate on anything except the fact that they would be leaving for Rochester in a mere few hours.
Eventually, that time came and, with only a minor fiasco involving the Ketcham competitors, they were off. Five hours later, after a long train ride, they arrived at the Radisson Hotel in Rochester, and had a very late dinner before going off to their respective rooms to get some much needed sleep.
Over the next two days, the hours of preparation were put to use, and the students went to their events, with several teams and individuals qualifying for finals, which included the top five or eight teams of each event, depending on how many rooms the event took place in. Once there, they continued to compete until five winners were selected, who were announced during the awards ceremony Friday morning.
When the students didn’t have an event to go to, they were kept occupied by workshops hosted by the state leadership team along with a member of the National Leadership team, the national secretary, Josie Luptak. These workshops included workshops for Team Building, Impromptu Speaking, Fundraising Ideas, Job Interview, and Ways to Dress for Success. Other activities included the dances held on both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Wednesday night, the dance was western themed, and so the competitors wore flannels, jeans, and other cowboy gear. On Thursday night, the dance was a masquerade so the students dressed up in semi-formal attire and masks were distributed, even though most students opted not to wear them. During all of these activities, students from all over New York state were able to interact and learn about each other and each other’s schools.
Finally, on Friday morning, the long-awaited awards ceremony arrived. John Jay High School ended up receiving an impressive array of awards, with eight people qualifying for nationals. In the team events, Jeevenjot Bhinder, Charles Gray, and Shakim Williams qualified for nationals in fourth place. And the duo, Maddie Orlando-Sturm and Jack Bott, placed impressively in two events with fifth in Social Media Campaign and third in Public Service Announcement, thus qualifying them for Nationals. Individually, both Joseph D’Annibale and Ruby Miller placed fourth in their events, and qualified for nationals in Accounting and Help Desk respectively. Finally, Amy Zhou was awarded first place in the state for Public Speaking. Congratulations to everyone, and good luck at Nationals!
© 2016 Amy Z. All rights reserved.
Eventually, that time came and, with only a minor fiasco involving the Ketcham competitors, they were off. Five hours later, after a long train ride, they arrived at the Radisson Hotel in Rochester, and had a very late dinner before going off to their respective rooms to get some much needed sleep.
Over the next two days, the hours of preparation were put to use, and the students went to their events, with several teams and individuals qualifying for finals, which included the top five or eight teams of each event, depending on how many rooms the event took place in. Once there, they continued to compete until five winners were selected, who were announced during the awards ceremony Friday morning.
When the students didn’t have an event to go to, they were kept occupied by workshops hosted by the state leadership team along with a member of the National Leadership team, the national secretary, Josie Luptak. These workshops included workshops for Team Building, Impromptu Speaking, Fundraising Ideas, Job Interview, and Ways to Dress for Success. Other activities included the dances held on both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Wednesday night, the dance was western themed, and so the competitors wore flannels, jeans, and other cowboy gear. On Thursday night, the dance was a masquerade so the students dressed up in semi-formal attire and masks were distributed, even though most students opted not to wear them. During all of these activities, students from all over New York state were able to interact and learn about each other and each other’s schools.
Finally, on Friday morning, the long-awaited awards ceremony arrived. John Jay High School ended up receiving an impressive array of awards, with eight people qualifying for nationals. In the team events, Jeevenjot Bhinder, Charles Gray, and Shakim Williams qualified for nationals in fourth place. And the duo, Maddie Orlando-Sturm and Jack Bott, placed impressively in two events with fifth in Social Media Campaign and third in Public Service Announcement, thus qualifying them for Nationals. Individually, both Joseph D’Annibale and Ruby Miller placed fourth in their events, and qualified for nationals in Accounting and Help Desk respectively. Finally, Amy Zhou was awarded first place in the state for Public Speaking. Congratulations to everyone, and good luck at Nationals!
© 2016 Amy Z. All rights reserved.