Waukon High School Future Business Leaders of America Chapter adds third consecutive Iowa Chapter of the Year honor to highlights of its 30-year history

The celebration of the 30th year of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter at Waukon High School this year got even more special after the chapter won its third consecutive Lloyd V. Douglas Chapter of the Year Award at the 2023 Iowa FBLA State Leadership Conference held March 30-April 1 in Coralville.

For the second consecutive year, the Waukon High School chapter defended that same title earned during each of the last two State Leadership Conferences in 2021 and 2022. With a Chapter of the Year “three-peat” being unprecedented in program history, the Waukon chapter has achieved one other previous championship repeat, at the 2015 and 2016 State Leadership Conferences. The Waukon chapter has finished as either the State Chapter of the Year or Runner-Up Chapter of the Year each season for nearly the past decade, with the 2020 State Leadership Conference canceled by COVID-19 just before it was slated to take place.

The Waukon chapter also earned Gold Chapter status this year for earning the maximum points for the Iowa FBLA FBLAopoly event, which is a  premier program for chapter development in Iowa. FBLAopoly focuses on creating quality local chapters through recruitment, financial management, community service, service learning projects, marketing and public relations, and participation in state and national programs.

The annual State Leadership Conference is an opportunity for students to compete against other students from around the state of Iowa in various business-related tests, presentations and speeches. Many projects were completed by students throughout the past couple of months and then presented to judges at the Conference. Events also included case studies and written tests.

The scoring at the State Leadership Conference is tabulated much like a track meet, with first-place finishers scoring the most points, and so on. The Lloyd V. Douglas Chapter of the Year Award is presented to the chapter that accumulates the most points from events at the State Leadership Conference. This year’s competition saw the Waukon chapter tally 486 points to finish well ahead of second-place Waukee’s 380 points and third-place chapter Western Dubuque and its 312 points.

The 2023 Iowa FBLA State Leadership Conference involved more than 750 attendees from high school FBLA chapters from across the state of Iowa. The Conference is held annually and consists of general sessions, competitive events, seminars, workshops, election of officers, awards and recognition, special programs, and other leadership and educational learning activities.

The Waukon students, advised by Waukon High School Business teachers Joanne Ericson and Laurel Keenan, started working on their prospective competitive events in January of this year and have spent hours preparing for the State Leadership Conference. Area community and business leaders assisted in judging earlier in March for a Mock State Leadership Conference in which students were able to gain feedback on their projects and presentations.

Also taking place during the Conference each year is the election of State FBLA Officers. Along with Waukon FBLA’s chapter success in team competition this year, chapter member Isaac Ericson, a junior at Waukon High School, was voted in for a second consecutive year to represent as District 1 Vice President. He will serve in that position once again for the year head after already doing so for the 2022-2023 FBLA year.

The top-end event finishers from the State Leadership Conference now have the option of advancing to the National Leadership Conference that is slated for June 27-30 in Atlanta, GA. Event placewinnings earned by the 80 Waukon High School FBLA Chapter members who competed at this year’s State Leadership Conference include the following:
Accounting II: 3rd place - Nicole Luong; 5th place - Carlee Thorstenson
Advertising: 7th place - Paisley Vine; 8th place - Remy Gulla
Agribusiness: 2nd place - Keagan Palmer
Banking & Financial Systems: 2nd place - Maggie Criswell and Emma Palmer; 4th place - Nicole Luong and Carlee Thorstenson
Broadcast Journalism: 4th place - Olivia Dougherty and Paisley Vine; 6th place - Mari Delaney and Lynsey Houg
Business Ethics: 4th place - Remy Gulla and CiAnne Robinson; 6th place - Avalea Burns and Emma O’Neill
Business Financial Plan: 1st place - Maggie Criswell and Jayden Knox; 4th place - Kylie Strittmater
Business Management: 4th place - Annie Ellingson and Taylor Kiel
Business Plan: 1st place - Katerina Kovarik and Berlin Troendle; 8th place - Cole Benzing and Halea Corwin
Client Services: 10th place - Josh Keenan
Coding & Programming: 3rd place - Isaac Weighner
Community Service Project: 4th place - Elle Wilkins
Computer Applications: 1st place - Gabe Weighner
Computer Game & Simulation Programming: 4th place - Micheal Duncklee, Jonathan Marti and Keagan Palmer; 6th place - Brayden Engrav and Connor Stilwell
Computer Operating Systems (Open Test): 3rd place - Keagan Palmer; 7th place - Noah Hatlan; 9th place - Graine Curtin
Data Analysis: 4th place - Ella Dehli and Emma Palmer; 6th place - Olivia Dougherty and Eva Whalen
Digital Animation: - 1st place - Noah Hager, Zachariah Perkins, Isaac Weighner; 3rd place - Ethan Kelly and Drew Weymiller
Digital Video Production: 3rd place - Avalea Burns and Elle Wilkins
E-Business: 1st place - Isaac Johanningmeier and Jaedyn McGuire; 6th place - Tucker Burrichter and Claire Schulte
Electronic Career Portfolio: 2nd place - James VanderVelden; 4th place - Tanner Marting
Entrepreneurship: 8th place - Taylor Crawford and Cameron Johnson; 10th place - Noah Hatlan and Carter Schellsmidt
Future Business Leader: 3rd place - Isaac Ericson
Graphic Design: 6th place - Ava Hooten and Taylor Kiel; 8th place - Katerina Kovarik and CiAnne Robinson
Health Care Administration: 5th place - Berlin Troendle
Help Desk: 1st place - Olivia Marti
Hospitality & Event Management: 5th place - Annie Ellingson; 6th place - James VanderVelden
HTML/CSS: 2nd place - Micheal Duncklee; 4th place - Jaxon Brinkman; 6th place - Avalea Burns; 7th place - Ava Bossom; 8th place - Preston Dietrich; 9th place - Alyssa Connelly; 10th place - Riley Palmer
Impromptu Speaking: 3rd place - Madi Kurth; 7th place - Caleb Perkins
International Business: 5th place - Tucker Burrichter and Mason Byrnes; 6th place - Riley Palmer
Introduction to Business Presentation: 4th place - Faith Cooper, Ava Johnson, Reese McCormick
Introduction to Event Planning: 8th place - Halea Corwin and Eva Whalen; 10th place - Claire Schulte and Willa Troendle
Introduction to Financial Math: 6th place - Jaxon Brinkman
Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure: 7th place - Bobbi Finney
Introduction to Public Speaking: 7th place - Alyssa Connelly
Introduction to Social Media Strategy: 2nd place - Tyler Christianson and Emily Ronan
JAVA Programming: 2nd place - Paisley Vine; 5th place - Brandon Teslow; 7th place - Isaac Weighner; 9th place - Tyler Christianson; 10th - Willa Troendle
Job Interview: 5th place - Olivia Marti
Journalism: 7th place - Caleb Perkins
Local Chapter Annual Business Report: 6th place - Mari Delaney and Berlin Troendle
Local Chapter Exhibit: 6th place - Isaac Ericson and James VanderVelden
Management Information Systems: 3rd place - Talon Hutchens and Brandon Teslow
Mobile Application Development: 1st place - Ava Hooten; 2nd place - Cody Huinker
Network Design: 1st place - Ethan Kelly
Networking Infrastructures: 4th place - Tanner Marting
NLC Pin Design and Promotion: 1st place - Ava Hooten
NLC T-shirt Design and Promotion: 7th place - Jayden Knox and Berlin Troendle
Nonprofit Management: 2nd place - Annie Ellingson; 3rd place - Taylor Kiel; 8th place - Reese McCormick; 9th place - Faith Cooper; 10th place - Cody Huinker
Organizational Leadership: 3rd place - Cameron Johnson
Partnership with a Business Project: 1st place - Nate Keenan
Public Service Announcement: 3rd place - Olivia Bossom and Kaitlyn Krambeer
Public Speaking: 5th place - Josh Keenan
Python Programming: 4th place - Gabe Weighner; 5th place - Mason Wasson; 6th place - Jack O’Neill; 7th place - Shawn Martin; 10th place - Colton O’Neill
Retail Management: 6th place - Issac Johanningmeier; 7th place - Bailey Sherman; 9th place - Olivia Bossom; 10th place - Mason Byrnes
Sales Presentation: 8th place - Olivia Bossom and Madi Kurth
Social Media Strategies: 7th place - Nate Keenan and Mason Wasson
Spreadsheet Applications: 4th place - Ava Bossom
Supply Chain Management: 8th place - Brody Gress
UX Design: 10th place - Mari Delaney
Website Design: 10th place - Shawn Martin and Gabe Weighner
Word Processing: 4th place - Issac Johanningmeier

ABOUT FBLA
Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc., the premier student business organization, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association with a quarter million members and advisers in over 6,500 active middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. FBLA-PBL’s mission is to inspire and prepare students to become community-minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences. The association is headquartered in Reston, VA, located just outside of Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit www.fbla.org. For more information on Iowa FBLA, visit www.iowafbla.org. To keep track of Waukon High School FBLA activities, follow the local group on Instagram: waukonfbla.