Lemont’s FBLA chapter wins three state titles, secures 10 national berths

Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) placed among the top ten in 14 of 24 events at the 2026 FBLA State Leadership Conference, which was held on April 10-11 in Springfield. Students from 10 events finished among the top four in their respective competitions to earn berths to the 2026 FBLA National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Lemont won multiple state titles for the ninth time since 2010.

Juniors Andrew Ascolani, Marco Mancini and Brandon Potaczek placed first in Management Information Systems, juniors Jokubas Augaitis and Aras Gedgaudas were victorious in Sales Presentation, and senior Ethan Spadafora triumphed in Computer Game Simulation. Sophomore Shaan Sharma was the state runner-up in Introduction to FBLA. Seniors Lorelei Dimitropoulos (Public Administration & Management) and Jean-Eduard Rodriguez (Social Media Strategies), juniors Adam Dunkin and Karm Patel (Coding & Programming), and sophomores Ryan Gal and Patrick Sobula (Digital Animation) all placed third in their events, while sophomores Alex Tchernev (Introduction to Programming) and Medha Vicharapu (Introduction to Public Speaking) were fourth.

Other state medalists included freshman Gabriela Bilek (5th, Data Analysis), juniors Luke Auskalnis, Max Elizondo and Christian Merkouris (6th, Financial Planning), sophomores Daniel Khan and Will Sagotz (8th, Entrepreneurship), and senior Maggie Sinnett (9th, Advertising).

Lemont placed among the top four in a school-record 32 events at the Central Northern Area Conference regional at Lincoln-Way East High School in December. Lemont students placed first in 11 team competitions and 10 individual events.

Team winners included Dunkin and Patel (Coding & Programming); Gal and Sobula (Digital Animation); Auskalnis, Elizondo and Merkouris (Financial Planning);  Ascolani, Mancini and Potaczek (Management Information Systems); Spadafora and seniors Hannon Bardachowski and Hunter Magolan (Computer Game Simulation & Programming); Rodriguez and senior Parker Hsu (Social Media Strategies); Augaitis, Gedgaudas and sophomore Gabriel Zarycki (Sales Presentation); seniors Olivia Sarno and Addyson Wolfe (Business Ethics); sophomores Molleigh Knitter and Isabella Sanchez (Broadcast Journalism) and Josiah Adichithara, Aarav Anand and Luke Kazmierczak (Introduction to Social Media Strategy); and freshmen Abby Drobnic and Kendall Lee.

Individual winners included Bilek (Data Analysis), Tchernev (Introduction to Programming) and Vicharapu (Introduction to Public Speaking); seniors Joey Fiore (Financial Statement Analysis), Nina Risatti (Business Communication) and Eamon Salmon (Digital Video Production); sophomores Liam Davidson (Introduction to Supply Chain Management), John Perry (Website Design) and Aidan Tracy (Introduction to Business Communication); and freshman Sareen Sharma (Introduction to Business Procedures). 

Lemont’s FBLA chapter has won at least one event state title in 12 of 16 competitions since 2010, and has captured multiple championships nine 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. 

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.