FBLA has district success

By Theo Tate
Posted 3/9/23

Business law has been a passion for Jacer Brower.

The Montgomery County junior wants to be an attorney in the future.

“I love to dress up,” Brower said. “I love to argue. …

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FBLA has district success

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Business law has been a passion for Jacer Brower.

The Montgomery County junior wants to be an attorney in the future.

“I love to dress up,” Brower said. “I love to argue. I also enjoy making other people look silly with my arguments. It seems like it would be really fun to do.”

Brower turned in a strong showing in the business law category at the Future Business Leaders of America District 7 event, which was held on Feb. 13 at MCHS. He placed fifth to advance to state competition for the second year in a row.

“I had a lot of fun,” Brower said.

Brower was also thrilled that he was selected as one of the FBLA district officers for the 2023-24 school year. He will share co-secretary duties with Wright City’s Jeronimo Lesmes.

“I ran for District 7 president, but I ended up getting co-secretary with another kid who ran for president,” Brower said. “I’m still happy to be a district officer.”

Brower will join senior Marina Ridenhour as MCHS’ lone representatives at the FBLA State Leadership Conference on April 16-18 in Springfield. Ridenhour earned her first state berth by finishing third in the economics category.

Both Brower and Ridenhour found out their results after taking a one-hour online test that had 100 questions.

“This year, I decided to do something different and test in economics because we’re going over a chapter in my advanced American history class about economics,” Ridenhour said. “It really intrigued me, so I kind of dove into it a little bit more. I ended up placing, which is surprising.”

MCHS had two teams place third, coming up one place short of qualifying for state. They were the graphic design team of Raiea Salerno, Abby Good and Brenna Ludy and the publication design team of Lilian Helm and Sara Meyer.

The district event had 190 competitors from 14 schools. MCHS hosted districts for the first time.

“It used to always be at Hannibal-LaGrange on a Tuesday,” said MCHS business teacher Eva Eikel, who is also the District 7 adviser. “We had to get everybody out of school. Teachers had to get subs and they had to get bus drivers, so we tried to do it on a Monday at one of the four-day schools to alleviate some of that pressure from schools on the subs and bus drivers. It worked out really well. We anticipate it being here again next year.”

Ridenhour said she was happy that she got to participate in district competition at her own school.

“We don’t have a small school, but we do have a smaller school compared to other schools,” the senior said. “So I think we handled it really well.”

Brower is one of three MCHS students who were selected to the FBLA District 7 officer team next year. Ludy, who is a sophomore, was picked to be vice president of membership and junior Madi Polston will share vice president of FBLA relations duties with Hannibal’s Hana Amirdash.

Brower said anyone who is interested in being an officer has to apply for a business achievement awards program.

“It’s really like a big application that teaches you about FBLA a little more,” Brower said. “Then, we had to make a campaign video and we had to fill out a formal application. It was a real big time crunch because it was during the last minute, but it was fun. I ended up winning something.”

The MCHS FBLA group had a busy year. It hosted its annual Haunted House in October at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, a Sadie Hawkins Dance in November at the high school and a Hero Night in October.

“It’s super fun,” said Brower, who is the parliamentarian. “You get to do different activities really to raise money for different stuff and hang out with your friends. You learn about business. In the world today, business is absolutely crucial and is very good to learn about. At the end of the year, you get a chance to go to state and that is about as fun as it gets.”

Rounding out the officer team are Ridenhour (vice president of event planning), Polston (vice president of public relations), Ludy (treasurer), Bailey Fischer (president), Zak Rodgers (vice president of membership), Malia Rodgers (junior) and Carson Flake (reporter).

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