The Montgomery County High School Future Business Leaders of America chapter brought home another Chapter of the Year banner this year.

MCHS was selected the Missouri FBLA Gold Level Chapter of the Year during the State Leadership Conference on April 14-16 in Springfield. It was the school’s second chapter of the year award and its first since 2016.

“I was really proud to be a part of that because it’s been eight years,” said junior Brenna Ludy, who is the chapter’s secretary. “There was a lot of work to go with that. So I think being able to do everything was really cool.”

The chapter had a busy 2023-2024 school year. It hosted the Sadie Hawkins Dance in November and the Haunted House and Hero Night in October. Also in November, the chapter completed the membership campaign by gaining 15 percent membership, increasing its chances of winning the chapter of the year award.

Madi Polston, who is the chapter’s president, said she was happy to see her group win the chapter of the year award in her senior year. The other seniors in the chapter are Alexa Groeber, Malia Rodgers, Jacer Brower and Jace Ellis.

“It was really cool,” Polston said. “We worked really hard on it all year. It was a struggle at points getting everything done because there is so much that goes into it. Being able to go up there and accept it was really fun.”

The chapter also has several other accomplishments during the state conference. Freshman Anna Klekamp placed fifth out of 57 participants in Electronic Career Portfolio, Groeber was named one of the FBLA Foundation Board Scholarship recipients as well as a member of the FBLA Buzz Squad and Ludy completed the Leader Level to the Business Achievement Awards.

Klekamp earned a medal for her award. Groeber accepted Klekamp’s award since the freshman had to return to MCHS to compete in the Montgomery County Invitational track meet.

“It was a lot less nerve-racking knowing it wasn’t my project,” Groeber said. “But everytime they called her name, Anna Klekamp, my face got bigger and bigger in expression. I was like, ‘No way, she did that.’”

Klekamp said she is thrilled to be part of a chapter that has five seniors.

“It was really cool being able to look up to all of the older leaders in the organization and just having experience of being able to learn from them and grow from them,” Klekamp said.

Groeber was part of a Buzz Squad that took pictures and videos and posted them on the Missouri FBLA Facebook page.

“I did a lot of the pictures, which I continued to do for school, so that is kind of what fueled me to apply for that position,” Groeber said. “I got to hand out a lot of cool stuff. We got free stuff as well. It was a good experience. It made me come out of my comfort zone and get people’s attention and say ‘Who wants to answer a trivia question for a prize?’ to many people I don’t know. So I met a lot of new people and learned a lot of fun things.”

Groeber won a $200 scholarship that will be used towards her education at the College of the Ozarks next year.

“I was really excited to receive it,” Groeber said. “I got up on stage and I didn’t know if I got it or not. We were all asking the same questions on stage. But when they called my name, I got a plaque and I thought that was really special.”

Ludy completed two of the levels to the Business Achievement Awards. There are four levels – contributor, leader, advocate and capstone.

“If you complete all four, it can lead to a really good scholarship,” Ludy said. “It’s like a project you can do at state. I did the leader one this year. It was really just going over what it takes to be a good leader and how to work with different types of people. There was a lot of taking different kinds of tests, watching different videos and making flyers.”