Marion Beckerink introduced our speakers from Falconer Future Business Leaders of the Falconer School District.
Michelle Johnson has been the advisor of Falconer Business leaders of America (FBLA) for the past 27 years. As a member during her high school years at Falconer, she developed her strong passion for the organization. She has been a New York State FBLA Board of Trustees since 2019 and serves as the Career & Technical Organization liaison, earning the Ella will be representing New York state chapter grant funds totaling $40,000. The chapter continually strives to serve their school and community and has qualified for national competition 19 times during her term. At this year’s State Leadership Conference, Mrs. Johnson was named the 2026 New York State Outstanding Local Chapter Advisor and recently found out that she has been nominated to the FBLA National Center’s Advisor Wall of Fame.
Two of her members have joined her today to highlight all of the exciting things that are going on with Falconer FBLA. Alexis Cross is a first-year member of the organization and serves as the Community Service Committee Chairperson. Ella Garrison is a third-year member and is currently serving as the chapter President. Ella will be representing Falconer in the Local Chapter Annual Business Report competition at the National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Please join me in welcoming th3m to today’s meeting.
Michelle Johnson introduced herself and her student representative Alexis Cross and Ella Garrison and we will talk to you a little bit about what this organization is about. A lot of people don’t realize everything that goes into the chapter. There is a 6-person executive team which is elected by the members after giving campaign speeches. The President and Vice-President will be presenting at this year’s National Leadership conference. Our chapter membership has really grown over the last few years. Covid represented a major challenge to adding members due to the nature of online learning. They have chapters in both the Senior and Junior (grades 6-8) High School. She is concerned because the Junior class represents a large portion of the group and they graduate next year.
Ella and Alexis spoke on the end of year banquet is when the next year’s list of officers are announced. There is a summer planning meeting in August for the new year’s officers. Chapter meeting are held every Wednesday during the school year where upcoming events and planning for them is held. Parliamentary procedures are very important and are discussed at every level of the organization. The FBLA coordinates many community events such as Easter egg hunts, and tour of local businesses (Cummins Engine plant). For the school they have a Back to School Bash, ice cream socials, pumpkin painting event, Christmas exchange and cookies, etc. to get the word out about the organization.
They organize a career day survey for 10th graders to help them think about what they want to do post high school whether it is college or other trade ideas. They have a variety of professionals (police, healthcare, manufacturing, etc.) speak to students about their vocations. They have done tours of plants such as the Cummins Plant which they found tremendously interesting. Their chapter fundraiser provides more experience in running these ventures and teamwork. This year’s fundraiser was a steak fry at the American Legion in Falconer resulting in a profit of $1,653 The students did all the work to organize and run the event.
Mary mentioned that besides competitions the club has hands-on experience with various businesses for store openings, business plans, etc. They also support the Ronald McDonald house in Buffalo with schoolwide support. Falconer has won many NYS awards competing against schools some much larger than itself
Questions
Are there any other local schools that have a chapter? There are only 2 other local schools which are Clymer and Randolph.
Mary was complimented on their use of Robert’s Rules of Orders. Mary indicated that its use is important to keep meetings moving and documenting decisions.
