One chapter ends, another begins at FBLA Awards 2023

Thursday evening, April 27, Future Business Leaders of America President Ethan Schneller welcomed attendees to the 2023 FBLA Awards and Officer Installation ceremony at Holyoke JR/SR High School. The ceremony recognized those who received new member, district, state or special awards, and announced the new officers for the coming year. 

“But first, we’d like to brag a little bit about how our chapter has done as a whole this year,“ Schneller said. “This year, Holyoke received the most prestigious FBLA award in the state of Colorado: Peak 5. Our members worked incredibly hard to achieve this esteemed award.”

The Peak 5 is prestigious because in order to earn it, a chapter must document 150 slides of their work for the year. The Peak awards are on levels, and Peak 5 is the highest level; You have to be very involved at the state and national levels in order to win it. 

According to Schneller, over 90% of Holyoke’s FBLA participants qualified for the state competition this year, and 25% of those competing at state made it to nationals. 

“We were thrilled to have 61 members involved in FBLA this year, an increase in 10 students from last year,” Schneller said. “This included 25 new members!”

New members were then called forward to receive their patches. This was followed by an acknowledgment of the students who placed in the top four at districts to qualify for state.

The state conference took place April 4-7 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Denver, where four Holyoke students placed in the Top Ten: Leah Struckmeyer, Ben Austin, Teagan Martin and Piper McConachie. 

Six students qualified for Business Achievement Awards. 

Schneller said that once the Advocate level is achieved, the next step is to do a capstone presentation, which is judged, and the top 15 students in the nation qualify for nationals. Only 4% of FBLA members statewide qualify for nationals. Holyoke students were called forward to receive plaques in seven categories.

First-place plaques went to Ben Kleve for Introduction to Business Concepts; and Ethan Scheller, and Tayla and Teagan Martin for their Community Service Project.   

Schneller earned a second-place plaque for his Accounting II project. Also taking second were Lucinda Mares for Introduction to Parliamentary Pro; Hannah Lindholm, and Jimena and Fatima Nunez for Partnership with Business; and Carter Van Overbeke, Caden Sporhase and Jaxson Hutches for American Enterprise Project. 

In third place, for Local Chapter Annual Business Report, were Daniela Fierro, and Piper and Kyrah McConachie.

Nelson then took the podium to present special awards, but first she thanked Rusty Triplette and Erik Vieselmeyer for donating water and popcorn to sell in the concession stand during volleyball season, saying that the money earned from sales helps FBLA to compete at their events.

She then thanked the chapter’s advisory committee, saying that these members help in a variety of ways: They use their business experience to make curriculum suggestions, help judge presentations and reports to prepare for state, and evaluate scholarship applications.

 Nelson then announced three special awards. The first was given to Ethan Schneller for being “an Outstanding FBLA member” who went above and beyond “just being a me-

mber”. Schneller not only participated, Nelson said, but was a big contributor to the chapter. “He kept our chapter organized by his leadership and consistent direction,” she said. “He never had to be reminded to do his job as president - he took his job seriously and was one of the best presidents I have ever had. Ethan will be truly missed by me and our whole chapter, and we look forward to seeing everything he accomplishes in his career.” 

Schneller will have his name put on a plaque in the business department.

 Each year, the Holyoke chapter budgets $1,000 for seniors majoring in business who have made significant contributions to the chapter. This year’s recipients are Ethan Schneller and Piper McConachie, who will receive $500 each. Schneller has qualified for state every year and for nationals for the past three years. This year he qualified in two 

events: Accounting II and Community Service. He has served as District 4 officer and a chapter officer for the past three years. 

He also received the District 4 scholarship for $250, for which there were over 30 applicants. He plans to go to Oklahoma State University to major in biochemistry and biology, and to minor in business.

As for Piper, Nelson continued, “McConachie has served the Holyoke chapter for the past four years as an active, reliable member...and qualified for nationals in two events: Accounting II and Local Chapter Annual Report.” 

Piper is planning to major in Anthropology and minor in Business at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Nelson said she has no doubt both of these members will be successful in their schools, careers and lives, and that they will be missed.

The last of the three special awards was given to Ben Kleve for getting Colorado State District 4 Officer. According to Nelson, there were close to 30 applicants for state officers this year. “As only a sophomore, Ben has already made a huge impact on our chapter,” she said. “He has high FBLA goals and has made each one of them, from being a district officer to a state officer - and hopefully a national officer after that! - to placing first at state and making it to nationals both his freshman and sophomore years.”

Ethan Schneller concluded the ceremony by installing the new officers: Katelyn Kropp as Social Media Representative, Ben Kleve as Fundraising Coordinator, Cozner Ring as Information Officer, Elyce Sisseck as Treasurer, Hannah Lindholm as Secretary, Carter Van Overbeke as Vice President, and Tayla Martin as President. A different-colored candle was lit to symbolize the unique responsibilities being assigned to each new officer, with a single larger candle representing the FBLA chapter as a whole.