Lemont’s FBLA combines for seven top-four finishes at state leadership conference

Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) placed among the top ten in 11 of its 14 events at the 2023 FBLA State Leadership Conference, which was held on April 14-15 in Springfield. Students from seven events finished among the top four in their respective competitions to earn berths to the 2023 FBLA National Leadership Conference in Atlanta.

Seniors Dominic Auriemma (Marketing), Jacob Heusuk (Cyber Security) and Julia Janowski (Digital Animation) all placed third in their events, while junior Natalia Zagata (Publication Design) and sophomore Vikram Oberai (Mobile Application Development) finished fourth in theirs. Juniors Ethan Bator, Danny Drobnic and Krystian Kozieja combined for fourth in Computer Game and Simulation Programming, as did sophomores Russell Daniloff and Ali Nabulsi in Sales Presentation.

Other medalists included senior Lauren Meyer (7th, Business Financial Plan), juniors Mallory Corse and Adyson DuVall (8th, Business Ethics), sophomore Amad Yaagoub (9th, Intro to Social Media Strategies), and freshman Joey Fiore (7th, Digital Video Production).

Lemont placed among the top three in all 19 of its events at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, which was hosted by Illinois Math and Science Academy in January. Lemont students placed first in six team competitions and seven individual events.

Team regional winners included Bator, Drobnic and Kozieja (Computer Game and Simulation Programming), Corse and DuVall (Business Ethics), Daniloff and Nabulsi (Sales Presentation), Yaagoub and sophomore Anicka Herout (Intro to Social Media Strategies), seniors Sebastian DelaTorre and Mahmoud Yacoub (Business Plan), and seniors Jack Madera and Marek Skotnicki (Data Analysis). 

Individual regional winners included Fiore (Digital Video Production), Heusuk (Cyber Security), Janowski (Digital Animation), Meyer (Business Financial Plan), Oberai (Mobile Application Development), Zagata (Publication Design) and Ryan Schmidt (Graphic Design). 

Lemont’s FBLA chapter won at least one event state title in nine of 11 competitions from 2010-21, and has captured multiple championships seven 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 215,000 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.