The room rumbles with the crowd of students and advisers dressed in formal suits, pant suits, and skirts bursting into applause. As senior Jestoni Losbanes walks onto the stage in Springfield, IL, he can not help but walk on stage with pride. In his last year of competing at state for Future Business Leaders of America, he crosses the stage towards the FBLA state president, Huntley’s own senior Parth Patel, to claim his medal and certificate for third place in his event, Economics.
“It was a great experience accepting my reward from the legend himself,” said Losbanes about receiving his award from Patel, a long time friend.
Losbanes and other members of Huntley’s FBLA chapter competed in Springfield at the Illinois state competition on Saturday. Unlike last year, not every member competing in the competition attended the event. Starting this year, the only members that had to be present at the state competition were those who competed presentation or project events.
“A lot of kids just took tests and didn’t have to go,” said Losbanes.
Six students from Huntley traveled down to the state event and of those six, four qualified for the national competition in Chicago. Losbanes qualified in Economics, senior Samantha Davalos qualified with third place in Job Interview, junior Winona Sullivan qualified with second place in Sales, and Patel qualified with first place in Impromptu Speaking.
Even with a significantly smaller number of students qualifying for nationals compared to last year, Huntley’s FBLA proved to be a threat for other competing schools. In addition to the impressive results of its competitors, Huntley will have another representative on the state board next year.
As Patel concluded his term as state president and left the state board, another Huntley student took his position on the board. Running a competitive campaign, Huntley’s FBLA president, junior Brennan Sorkin, was elected State Reporter by the schools in attendance in Springfield.
Overall, the trip was extremely successful for Huntley’s chapter. Even with this success, the road does not end at state. Each national qualifier plans to intensify and improve in their event with great hopes to place at the national competition in July.