By Jackie Nelson
HESSTON – Hesston High students had a strong year, competing in Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). This year, Hesston is sending nine students to national competition in a variety of categories. National competition will take place in June.
Sponsor Staci Hansen said after last year’s cancellation of the season due to the pandemic, this year’s highlight was, “Getting to compete after not getting to last year and seeing our kids succeed and do well even when things were different.”
This season, Swathers who qualified for nationals will take part in all-online competitions in June, giving Zoom presentations and taking online tests.
The effects and challenges of COVID-19 have lingered, as competitions were moved online. Hansen said areas where Hesston typically excel – presentations in team events – were cancelled this year. She added that students were not able to go compete in person and “do all of the fun things we can do when in person.”
However, the challenges were overcome by collaborating with staff to ensure FBLA competitors had the best experience possible.
“Luckily, we have a great tech director, Phil Unruh, who made sure we had adequate internet to keep us up and running for virtual testing as we spent two full days testing with 41 kids in our gym,” said Hansen.
Other students stepped up to assist FBLA in their competitions, as Katie Gaston and the Audio Visual class, “Helped us with the logistics of getting presentations recorded professionally,” she said.
Hansen said she also wanted to extend a special thanks to Denise Goevert and Garrett Roth for helping run events.”
While working through an unconventional season, Hansen said her students continued to adapt, overcome and succeed. From FBLA veterans to first-time competitors, Hansen said she was impressed with the effort and dedication of Hesston teens.
“Madalyn Dages, a senior, this is her first year to be in FBLA. She competed in web design and had to record herself using Loom to describe her website. She did a fantastic job and placed fourth in state to qualify for nationals,” said Hansen.
First timer Katelyn Boles gave a very heartfelt, as well as professional speech in Intro to Public Speaking and took home third place and a national qualifiers spot.
Hansen said Amala John took on an entire team presentation solo and earned a second place finish in Business Ethics and a trip to national competition.
“All of our students who went the extra mile to do presentation events…they are time consuming and require a lot of out of school effort,” said Hansen.
Through a season of changing norms and adaptation, Hansen was proud of all of the FBLA participants.
“They stepped up and gave great effort and had great success, even when things were different,” she said.
As the season comes to an end for many of the FBLA students, Hansen hopes the community would appreciate the effort of teens during an uncertain and challenging school year.
“They care. They care about doing well for not just themselves, but our team and our school. We have some amazing kids who are going to go do big things,” she said.
Like any other extracurricular program, Hansen said FBLA depends on the community for support, through fundraisers and donations.
“We appreciate how the community always steps up to help us, whether it is donating at our blood drive in the fall, eating at our fundraising suppers at basketball games or donating to our program. We appreciate our local businesses. Also, thank you to HHS Power Club, who helped with meals/snacks for kids during our days of testing,” Hansen said.
2021 State FBLA Top 10 Finishers for Hesston
1st Place – Cyber Security Test: Will Bartel*
1st Place – Sports and Entertainment Management Test: Lucas Roth, Jackson Humphreys, Cole Deutschendorf*
2nd Place – Business Calculations Test: Will Bartel*
2nd Place – Business Ethics Presentation: Amala John*
3rd Place – Intro to Public Speaking Presentation: Katelyn Boles*
3rd Place – Sales Presentation: Michaela Martin & Jackson Humphreys*
4th Place – Web Design: Madalyn Dages*
4th Place – Banking & Financial Test: Jace Regier*
5th Place – Securities & Investments Test: Jace Regier
6th Place – Accounting Test: Cora Yoder
7th Place – Accounting II Test : Jace Regier
7th Place – Entrepreneurship Test: Devin Miller, Colton Diller, Micah Dahlsten
8th Place – Public Speaking: Diana Cervantes
9th Place – Economics Test; Matthew Waltner
*Qualified for national competition
2021 District FBLA Top 10 Finishers for Hesston
Accounting:
Cora Yoder – 1st
Lucas Roth – 4th
Cole Deutschendorf – 10th
Accounting II
Jackson Humphreys – 1st
Braden Esau – 2nd
Jace Regier – 3rd
Andrew Schmidt – 4th
Advertising
Ty Schroeder – 4th
Armani McGovern – 6th
Brayden Bruner – 9th
Agribusiness
Andrew Schmidt – 1st
Dalton Carey – 2nd
Joey Kueker – 4th
Banking & Financial
Jace Regier – 1st
Business Calculations
Will Bartel – 1st
Lucas Roth – 3rd
Amala John – 5th
Cora Yoder – 10th
Business Communications
Will Bartel – 3rd
Amala John – 9th
Business Ethics
Amala John – 1st
Business Law
Joey Kueker – 2nd
Paityn Jahay – 5th
Harley Ferralez – 8th
Computer Problem Solving
Evan Fuqua – 10th
Cyber Security
Will Bartel – 2nd
Cason Richardson – 5th
Matthew Waltner – 9th
Economics
Dalton Carey – 7th
Kaleb Hansen – 8th
Cole Deutschendorf – 10th
Entrepreneurship Team
Micah Dahlsten, Devin Miller, Colton Diller – 4th
Healthcare Administration
Joey Kueker – 7th
Hospitality Management Team
Olivia Arnold, Elaina Tozier, Katelyn Boles – 6th
Impromptu Speaking
Diana Cervantes – 2nd
Intro to Business Procedures
Cavan Fuqua – 7th
Armani McGovern – 10th
Jackson Copeland – 10th tie
Intro to Financial Math
Devin Miller – 1st
Intro to Public Speaking
Katelyn Boles – 1st
Journalism
Cole Deutschendorf – 2nd
Ben Bollinger – 10th
Organizational Leadership
Emily Schmidt – 5th
Personal Finance
Matthew Waltner – 7th
Jesse Magill – 9th
Cora Yoder – 10th
Public Speaking
Diana Cervantes – 2nd
Sales Presentation
Jackson Humphreys & Michaela Martin – 2nd
Securities & Investments
Jace Regier – 3rd
Jackson Humphreys – 5th
Josh Leinbach – 10th
Sports & Entertainment Management Team
Cole Deutschendorf, Lucas Roth, Jackson Humphreys
