On April 19, 20, and 21, 54 Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) members from Fossil Ridge High School competed in the state competition in Vail, Colorado. 23 of them qualified for Nationals, setting a Poudre School District record; they will compete in Anaheim, California between June 29 and July 2. For the complete list of qualifiers, see below.
Different events have different prompts, but most are speech or presentation related. There are also a few events administered as tests, and some displayed as roleplays. Sophomore Alexandre Shappell took third place in Public Speaking 1 at the state competition, and will be one of Fossil’s representatives in California this summer. The prompt in his event was to write a business related speech about the FBLA goals, and Shappell’s own speech highlighted three of the ten in an action plan for implementing those goals. His plan included the concepts of “service, fulfillment, happiness, and success”.
He explained that business competition works approximately the same in regionals, state, and nationals. The student walks into a room and introduces themselves to the one to four judges, then gives their speech to the best of their ability. Then, they sit and wait for results, and provide support for their peers who are competing throughout the day. Shappell has learned a great deal from being in FBLA at Fossil. He finds that his event is, “a very important part of business leadership, but that it’s not just about that. Public speaking can be applied to your school presentations, your English projects, digital video productions.”
Fossil students were proud of their performance at the event, saying that, “we performed spectacularly. It was just really interesting and inspiring to see how many events we dominated in, not just National qualifiers but top three and first places. FBLA is for any student who is interested in leadership.” Good luck at Nationals, and congratulations all the Sabercats who made it this far!
54 Sabercats competed at FBLA state, and part of the business competition is looking professional.
| Competitor | Event | Place |
| Fossil Ridge Chapter | Community Service/ March of Dimes | Top 3 Fundraisers in Colorado |
| Fossil Ridge Chapter | Membership | Largest Chapter in District 1 |
| Fossil Ridge Chapter | Peak Recognition | Peak V (highest chapter recognition) |
| Lisa Landwehr | BAA Business Achievement Awards | America (highest individual recognition) |
| Neil Rowen | BAA Business Achievement Awards | Leader Award |
| Lexi Nylund | BAA Business Achievement Awards | Leader Award |
| Lisa Landwehr | BAA Business Achievement Awards | Leader Award |
| Courtney Stone | Accounting 2 | 4th |
| Ansel Pierce | Social Media Campaign | 1st |
| Rachel Tomas | Word Processing | 1st |
| Taylor Lyle | Advertising | 1st |
| Dane Harnish | Intro. to Financial Math | 2nd |
| Arnold Pfanhl | Cyber Security | 1st |
| Riley Hurley | Insurance & Risk Mgmt. | 1st |
| Natalie Liao | Insurance & Risk Mgmt. | 4th |
| Jeannie Zhang | Intro. to Business | 4th |
| Gracie Finnegan | Journalism | 5th |
| Dylan Ellis | Personal Finance | 4th |
| Jacob Trenholm and
Miles Scharte |
American Enterprise Project | 1st |
| Austin Ritz | Client Service | 5th |
| Melissa Rauwerdink,
Zach Norris, and CJ Martindale |
Entrepreneurship | 1st |
| Nick Lin, Chelsea Wang, and Lisa Landwehr | Global Business | 1st |
| Austin Ownbey | Help Desk | 1st |
| Ashley Beaty, Mina Chi, and Reese Wilson | Partnership with Business | 3rd |
| Alexandre Shappell | Public Speaking I | 3rd |
Citlalli Garcia • Apr 27, 2017 at 8:13 am
The rankings there is a good idea and goes with the article which is not that long, but still goes well with the info and gives all details about the competition.
Amber Smith • Apr 27, 2017 at 8:09 am
i found this really interesting and well-written. Thank you for covering this and I have learned more about FBLA thanks to this article. Keep up the good work!
Karli • Apr 27, 2017 at 8:08 am
Super exciting and proud of FBLA for breaking the record. Love that the table was to created so that I can see everyone who competed. Good overall structure with all the needed to know information at the top.
Mason Fowler • Apr 27, 2017 at 8:04 am
This article has a lot of detail. I like how they put the competitor, what they placed, and the event. I like how they talk about certain prompts and the speeches. I feel like they could’ve gotten a few more quotes from individuals but besides that, it’s a really good article.
Farhan • Apr 27, 2017 at 7:57 am
Great informative article with all the facts listed clearly. The chart helped me see who competed at the state competition and each paragraph had a quotes from the interviewee to help the article get more depth.
Rena • Apr 25, 2017 at 11:05 am
Thank you from Business Leadership! <3