On April 8-10 four DeKalb High School students went to state FBLA held in Springfield, Mo.
Three of the four who attended state were FBLA officers. The fourth was senior Cole Wildhagen. Wildhagen found out at districts he had qualified for state. However, he did not move on to nationals.
While at state, the students participated in many activities and workshops. Wildhagen and FBLA Chapter President Elizabeth Gunter also voted for next year’s FBLA state officers.
Even though Wildhagen was the only member to have made it to the state level, the students still participated in many events. The attended workshops, completed a scavenger hunt, and listened to a motivational speaker. The students also did an escape room for a team building activity.
“We did an escape room and that was my probably my favorite part,” Wildhagen said.
The team was close to escaping, with time running out at the very last step. Wildhagen said time was wasted in the beginning just trying to figure the whole process out.
“At the very beginning we wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what to do, but it was the first clue so it was pretty easy and right in front of our faces,” Wildhagen said. “If we had focused a bit more in the beginning, we would have had time to spare.”
Senior Elizabeth Gunter said that while at state the team learned to work together not only through the escape room but also through the scavenger hunt.
“We had to work together to complete the scavenger hunt,” Gunter said. “We traveled all around the city and learned to work as a team to get 13th place in the scavenger hunt.”
FBLA Advisor Marina Hayner said that she learned a lot that will help her next year with the chapter.
“It was good to see how other advisors prepare their students and it was really cool to see FBLA state,” Hayner said.