Creston FBLA takes home several awards at state competition

Iowa’s competitive, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) conference was a memorable one for Creston High School this year, as chapter adviser Shannon Smith was named Iowa’s Adviser of the Year, and several students earned first-place awards.

Additionally, as a whole, the Creston chapter took first place in FBLA-OPOLY, a state program that encourages chapters to be active.

“I think we did pretty well,” Smith said. “We took the most students we’ve ever taken, 28, and we had 13 events place. Out of those 13, seven are eligible to go (to nationals).”

The 70th Iowa FBLA State Leadership Conference was held Thursday through Saturday in Coralville. The conference is held each spring and consists of competitive events, seminars, election of officers, awards and other leadership activities.

The National Leadership Conference will be held June 29 to July 2 in Atlanta.

Adviser of the Year

Before the conference, some of Smith’s students nominated her for Iowa’s FBLA Adviser of the Year. Smith was one of four advisers nominated statewide.

The adviser award provides students the chance to recogonize an adviser who gives his or her time to create an active chapter. The winner is announced at both the state and national conferences, and advisers may only be nominated once every three years and must have been an adviser for at least three years.

In her sixth year as the Creston chapter adviser, Smith also teaches business education at the high school and serves as Iowa’s FBLA state officer coordinator.

“It was pretty cool that the students took the time to nominate me,” Smith said. “They have to write a letter about why they think I’m deserving of the award, and then the advisers who were nominated get a sheet to fill out the types of things they’ve done with their chapter throughout the course of the year.”

The advisers earn points based on the amount and type of work they have completed with their chapters.

“I must have had the highest points out of the advisers nominated, and I won, so that was pretty exciting,” Smith said. “Then, at nationals, I’ll get to walk across the stage. Each Adviser of the Year from each state gets to go up at nationals.”

FBLA-OPOLY

Iowa’s FBLA-OPOLY program provides local chapters with ideas for getting more involved in the FBLA organization and offers an opportunity for additional recognition at the state leadership conference.

This year, the Creston chapter took first place in FBLA-OPOLY.

“Basically, it’s a Monopoly board, but it changes the properties to actual activities, so some of the activities are to participate in holiday community service, have students run for office, things like that,” Smith said. “There are 38 different activities, and we completed 36 of them and got first place. As a reward for that, we got a trophy and preferential seating at our banquet and at the hypnotist that performed at the conference.”

Student awards

This year, several Creston students placed, including junior Rachel Shepherd.

“The conference was one of the best ones yet for me, but I also was involved in different (projects) I wasn’t involved in previously,” she said.

Shepherd and the students she worked with took home first-place awards for two team projects: battle of the chapters advance and community service project.

“Our community service project was about our event for the Ronald McDonald House with the wrestling team back in January, and we got first place,” Smith said. “It also was an event with a scholarship with it, so (those students) are going to get $50 each that can be used for going to nationals or for college.”

Since Shepherd worked on this community service project, she will receive the scholarship. She was also one of the seven Creston students who qualified for nationals this year.

“I think, overall, the Creston chapter did really well as a team in the chapter events and some individuals worked really hard, and it obviously showed when they went to state,” Shepherd said.

With students placing in 13 categories, Smith was pleased with the work of the Creston chapter.

“I’m really proud of how the students did and the effort they put into their different projects,” Smith said. “A lot of the students who placed, it was more of a project-based event rather than a test, and that takes more time to do. So, I’m pretty excited they put in the effort for that, and they continue to see the value in doing these types of events.”