On June 27th, 2015, Sonoraville High School (SHS) students Alex, Catherine, John, and Mikayla traveled to Chicago, Illinois with Adviser Lisa Smith, business teacher at SHS, and chaperone Dustin, a SHS FBLA alumni, to represent the school at the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Institute for Leaders (IFL) and National Leadership Conference (NLC). Two students, Catherine and Mikayla, each served as one of four interns at IFL, a pre-conference seminar serving approximately 500 students from all over the nation. They helped facilitators with set up, clean up, and various other tasks. Catherine is one of only three students from the state of Georgia to be an intern, and Whitfield is the first student from Georgia to serve as an intern twice!
John and Alex competed at the national level in Marketing and Sales Presentation, respectively. Their hard work through the past months paid off when each placed within the top ten in the nation for their events! Johns’ wild card team, consisting of two additional students from other Georgia schools, placed ninth in the nation in Marketing! Alex placed third in the nation for Sales Presentation, breaking a school record for highest placement at a National Leadership Conference!
The group also got to enjoy Chicago during their free time. They stood above the city in the John Hancock Observatory (now known as Chicago 360), admired artwork at the Art Institute, visited the Shedd Aquarium, went back in time at the Field Museum, and tasted authentic Chicago pizza at Gino’s East.
