From April 21 – 23, nearly 600 members of Future Business Leaders of America gathered at Rochester’s Riverside Convention Center for their annual State Leadership Conference.
Canastota High School’s chapter of FBLA sent fourteen members to the conference. Throughout the three-day event, over 20 students from New York State FBLA campaigned and gave speeches in an effort to seek positions available on the incoming state officer team.
Student candidates were required to give speeches, caucus, and answer any questions of the voting delegation. Canastota junior, Justin Gibson-Faber was elected to serve as next year’s New York State Vice President for District 7.
In this capacity, Justin will be responsible for coordinating all of the activities of the district which includes Madison, Oneida, and Herkimer counties.
Tamika Tolliver and Erick Wells, Canastota High School seniors, finished their terms as State District 7 Vice President and State Parliamentarian, respectively, and delivered their farewell speeches on Thursday evening, April 22.
Bobbi Jo Hannan and Melissa McGovern represented the Canastota chapter as voting delegates. The following Canastota members were awarded plaques on Friday, April 23, during the annual awards & closing ceremony.
Basic Decision Making — 5th Place — Joshua Bazan, Introduction to Business Communications — 5th Place — Jerod Gibson-Faber, Introduction to Business Communications — 4th Place — Joshua Bazan, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure — 5th Place — Justin Niles, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure — 4th Place — Holly Wilkinson, Local Chapter Annual Report — 3rd Place, Parliamentary Procedure — Top 5 in NYS — Justin Gibson-Faber
The Canastota chapter also received recognition for several chapter participation awards that were presented during the conference. The following were awarded: Community Service Mania — 1st Place, Community Service Madness — 2nd Place — Erick Wells, Media Hype Challenge — 2nd Place, Membership Recognition — Early Bird Roster, Membership Challenge — Joshua Bazan, Justin Gibson-Faber, Erick Wells
At the conference, the Canastota Chapter was recognized as one of the top ten outstanding chapters in the state ; receiving fourth place recognition for their efforts during the year. New York State FBLA is composed of nearly 5000 members in 170 chapters.
Canastota members are looking forward to attending the National Leadership Conference being held this July in Nashville, Tennessee.
