Many students participated in district events. Some students took a test ahead of time, while others presented on Friday, February 13th.
The students who took their tests ahead of time went to workshops on the day of districts. The workshops offered were all business-related. The first workshop offered was Dak Dillon, “Hub and Spoke.” This was all about Dak’s experiences following his entrepreneurial dreams. This was Paige Adams’ favorite workshop, “I really enjoyed hearing Dak Dillon talk about his career. His main focus was that school is great, but experience is better,” she expressed.
The next available workshop was Michael Seipp from The Men’s Wearhouse. This one was a basic introduction to professional clothing for both male and female high school students.The third and last workshop was Callie Page, “Success versus Failure: The Most Important Ingredient in the Business World Today.” This workshop was about staying optimistic and turning failures into successes.
Students that were not performing in an event or attending a workshop could also go on a tour of the Churchill Museum. On top of those options, the students could eat lunch anytime between 10:45a.m. and 1:00p.m. Events were going on in different rooms during the day. At 12:30p.m. the district officers led an half hour of icebreakers, including a trivia game about the Missouri state FBLA officers. Then, at 1:00p.m., the closing ceremony began.
Many of the NHHS FBLA members placed at districts. For each event, the top five competitors were awarded a medal, and the top two contestants also get the privilege of advancing to state. These medals were handed out at the closing ceremony. Each of the top five had their name called and walked up onto the stage. New Haven definitely cheered for their own. Every New Haven student that got a medal was cheered on and clapped for as they went onto the stage and when their place was announced. The contestants often seemed nervous once they were on stage, hoping they would get the place they wanted. Kim Hoffman’s face when she, Alison Long, and Kenzie Bauer won their event was quite the face to watch, because everyone could tell that she was extremely happy and surprised.
In total, New Haven FBLA got thirty-one medals, which means NHHS FBLA got 5th place or better in that many events. Twenty-one of those medals and places were either 1st or 2nd and qualified for state. On top of that, there are a few students that took tests or are working on events that automatically took them to state.
Some events and tests were for one person to perform alone, while others were for teams or singular people. Kim Hoffman, Kenzie Bauer, and Alison Long did the Public Service Announcement event and ended up taking first place. Kim stated, “My favorite part of districts was getting first place in Public Service Announcement with Kenzie Bauer and Alison Long. Although it was extremely stressful, it was totally worth it.”
Mrs. Strickland also had a lot a things to stress about; she related, ““I was definitely nervous as I felt coming into this, I had really big shoes to fill. I wanted students to have the same opportunities that Ms. River made possible for students in prior years.”
Hannah Kruse had a slightly different perspective of the day because she was a district officer. “It was so cool to be a District Officer and hear cheers from New Haven during the awards ceremony. My Marketing Team took first, which was astonishing and fun,” she related.
All in all, the members of the New Haven High School chapter of FBLA seem to have had a wonderful time and are excited to go onto state.The following is a list of event placement at this year’s FBLA district competition:
(* signifies those that advance to state competitions)
Accounting I
*1ST Drew Armfield, New Haven
*2ND Nathan Allgaier, New Haven
Accounting II
*1ST Kayla Watson, New Haven
2ND Hannah Kruse, New Haven
Agribusiness
*2ND Drew Armfield, New Haven
Business Calculations
*2ND Nathan Allgaier, New Haven
*4TH Drew Amfield, New Haven
Business Communications
*3RD Mackenzy Vedder, New Haven
Business Ethics team
3RD New Haven – Kayla Borcherding, Taylor Covington, Katie Peirick
Business Math
*1ST Anna Miller, New Haven
*4TH Aaron Penning, New Haven
Business Presentation Team
*1ST New Haven – Emily Lewis
Business Procedures
*3RD Erin Scheer, New Haven
Healthcare Administration
*3RD Erin Scheer, New Haven
Insurance & Risk Management
*4TH Kayla Watson, New Haven
Introduction to Business
*3RD Brady Kruse, New Haven
Intro to Business Communication
*1ST Brady Kruse, New Haven
*2ND Emma Engelbrecht, New Haven
*5TH Emily Lewis, New Haven
Intro to Information Technology
*5TH Kate Ruediger, New Haven
*6TH Aaron Penning, New Haven
Marketing Team
*1ST New Haven – Hannah Kruse, Lindsey Nixon, Kayla Watson
Parliamentary Procedure team
2ND New Haven
Public Service Announcement
*1ST New Haven – Kenzie Bauer, Kim Hoffmann, Alison Long
Securities & Investments
*4TH Beth Schenck, New Haven
Sales Presentation
*1ST Emma Eichelberger, New Haven
Sports and Entertainment Management
3RD New Haven – Jared Horstmann, Michael McKernan, Andrew Menke
Word Processing
*1ST Kayla Borcherding, New Haven
-by Risa Allen