(From left) Falconer Adviser & NYS FBLA Trustee Michelle Johnson, Clymer Adviser & NYS FBLA Trustee Lisa Perry, Randolph Adviser Sara Congdon, NYS FBLA Trustee Emily Johnson.

FALCONER – The Future Business Leaders of America saw students from three schools within this district compete recently at the 2026 Spring District Competition.

Michelle Johnson, a Falconer Central School business teacher, coordinated much of the involvement for the district. Johnson stated that the competition challenges students in three different key areas; objective testing, professional performance, and real-world role-play scenarios. Johnson noted that 13 of these are performance related events, while 19 are written events. Johnson also mentioned the district elimination events, which put the students head-to-head against other schools within the area for a chance to compete at the state level. Other competing schools within this district included the schools in both Clymer and Randolph. The top two places will advance to the state level, according to Johnson.

“[FBLA] is an organization that’s meant to prepare students for the working world, not working, building skills in all of those areas,” said Johnson. “We do a lot of community service, in fact we just went on Monday and helped at St. Susan.”

While many children in the area may be limited by costs, Johnson discussed specific methods to attempt to make it accessible to as many kids as possible. Johnson noted that the costs to travel to states must be covered by the students directly, with the total coming to about $600 per student. With over 125 different competitions and various workshops to attend, Johnson stated that these students are essentially paying to go work. As a result, various fundraising activities are offered to students to help alleviate some of these costs.

The results for Falconer were very positive, with eleven students securing top-three finishes in a range of categories. The high school winners from the district included Carson Braley (first in Intro to Decision Making, third in Intro. to Business Procedures), Patrick Braley (first in Agribusiness), Andrew Coulter (first in Intro to Public Speaking), Finley Darr (Second in Job Interview), Matisonn Dellahoy (Third in Personal Finance), Colleen Frederickson (First in Intro to Business Presentation), Ella Garrison (Second in Public Speaking, third in Economics), Haven Kaltenbach (first in Impromptu Speaking), Savannah Moore (first in Economics; third in Journalism), Lilli Szal-Williams (first in Customer Service), and Sharlie Quackenbush (first in Personal Finance; second in Customer Service, and third in Hospitality & Event Management).

The district only had one middle school member in attendance this year, however this student was certainly not there to disappoint. Jason R. received first in Exploring Business Issues, first in Exploring Customer Service, and third in Middle Level Digital Citizenship. Carson B, Andrew C, Finley D, Ella G, and Haven K. all competed in the district’s elimination events. As a result of their placements these students will be competing for District 13 at the State Leadership Conference in April.

The students have shown immense dedication to the program, and have continued to shine year-after-year, according to Johnson. As the state competition progresses, the district hopes to see these students continue to highlight their skills.