LHS Senior Wins Title At FBLA State Leadership Conference

LEMONT, IL — Lemont High School’s chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America placed among the top ten in 10 of 14 events at the 2025 FBLA State Leadership Conference, which was held on March 28-29 in Springfield, according to a release from the school. Students from five events finished among the top four in their respective competitions to earn berths to the 2025 FBLA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California.

The school said senior Matthew Bechtlofft earned his first state title after placing first in the Graphic Design competition, while freshmen John Perry and Alex Tchernev placed third in Introduction to Programming. The team of seniors of Aditya Oberai, Vikram Oberai and Aidan Potaczek were fourth in Coding & Programming, as was the tandem of juniors Olivia Sarno and Addyson Wolfe in Business Ethics, and junior Nina Risatti in Business Communications.

Other medalists included senior Amad Yaagoub (6th, Financial Statement Analysis), seniors Sofia Kuziel, Anisha Oberai and Charlotte Putt (5th, Website Design), sophomores Luke Auskalnis, Ian Koestner and Brandon Potaczek (5th, Hospitality & Event Management), freshmen Daniel Khan and Will Sagotz (8th, Entrepreneurship), and freshman Medha Vicharapu (5th, Introduction to Public Speaking), according to LHS.

Lemont placed among the top four in 18 events at the Central Northern Area Conference regional, which was hosted by Joliet Junior College in December, the school said. Lemont students placed first in six team competitions and six individual events.

Team winners included Kuziel, Anisha Oberai and Putt (Website Design); Sarno and Wolfe (Business Ethics); Auskalnis, Koestner and Potaczek (Hospitality & Event Management); Khan and Sagotz (Entrepreneurship); Perry and Tchernev (Introduction to Programming); and sophomores Aras Gedgaudas and Gabriel Zarycki (Broadcast Journalism).

Individual winners included Bechtlofft (Graphic Design), Risatti (Business Communications), Kimantas (Introduction to Marketing Concepts), Vicharapu (Introduction to Public Speaking), senior Karolina Gmiterek (Job Interview), and junior Joey Fiore (Business Plan).

Lemont’s FBLA chapter has won at least one event state title in 11 of 15 competitions since 2010, and has captured multiple championships eight times, including a school-record five state titles in both 2011 and 2016, the school said.

The FBLA is the largest business career student organization in the world, and includes more than 200,000 students worldwide in its high school division. Lemont’s FBLA chapter is sponsored by teacher John Aspel.