Lemont’s FBLA chapter qualifies for state competition in 18 events

Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) placed among the top four in 18 events at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, which was hosted by Joliet Junior College in December. The top four finishers in each event earned the opportunity to participate at the 2025 FBLA State Leadership Conference, which will be held on March 28-29 in Springfield.

Lemont students placed first in six team competitions and six individual events. Seniors Sofia Kuziel, Anisha Oberai and Charlotte Putt won Website Design; juniors Olivia Sarno and Addyson Wolfe were victorious in Business Ethics; sophomores Aras Gedgaudas and Gabriel Zarycki triumphed in Broadcast Journalism; sophomores Luke Auskalnis, Ian Koestner and Brandon Potaczek teamed to win Hospitality and Event Management; freshmen Daniel Khan and Will Sagotz combined to win Entrepreneurship; and freshmen John Perry and Alex Tchernev teamed to win Introduction to Programming.

Individual winners included seniors Matthew Bechtlofft (Graphic Design) and Karolina Gmiterek (Job Interview); juniors Joey Fiore (Business Plan) and Nina Risatti (Business Communications); sophomore Jonas Kimantas (Introduction to Marketing Concepts); and freshman Medha Vicharapu (Introduction to Public Speaking). 

Seniors Aditya Oberai, Vikram Oberai and Aidan Potaczek placed second in Coding & Programming, while junior Eamon Salmon and sophomore Eli Zogby finished as the runner-up in Public Service Announcement, and senior Amad Yaagoub was second in Financial Statement Analysis. Seniors Ali Nabulsi and Lavya Suri finished third in Sales Presentation, while junior Lorelai Dimitropoulos (Public Policy and Advocacy) and freshman Tomas Taujanskas (Introduction to Financial Math) were fourth in their respective events.

Lemont’s FBLA chapter won at least one event state title in 10 of 14 competitions from 2010-24, and has captured multiple championships eight times, including a school-record five state titles in both 2011 and 2016. Martynas Juskelis ‘18, Anna Mietus ‘19 and Alex Paulius ‘18 each won three state titles in their careers, while Spenser Bailey ‘16, Danny Banas ‘11 and Krystian Paszek ‘11 won two each. Aditya and Vikram Oberai teamed for one of Lemont’s three state titles in 2024, triumphing in Mobile Application Development.

The FBLA is the largest business career student organization in the world, and includes more than 200,000 students worldwide in its high school division. Illinois’ chapter of the FBLA may be found on the Web at www.ilfbla.org. Lemont’s FBLA chapter is sponsored by teacher John Aspel.