KY FBLA Takes on NFLC in Washington, DC

What a weekend! Washington DC did not disappoint as our host city for the National Fall Leadership Conference. I have enjoyed following our chapters in attendance through social media posts, seeing cities through our student’s viewpoint is always special. The conference kicked off with a great keynote speaker and recognition awards. As expected, Kentucky showed up and showed out earning the largest state AND chapter delegation awards, way to go Logan County High School! 400 Kentuckians were registered for the event, with LCHS being home 52 of those attendees.

During the conference we had the opportunity to attend workshops, participate in community service activities, explore the exhibit hall, shop marketplace and network with students, advisers, vendors and presenters from around the country. Outside the conference schools were not short on ideas for what to do with downtime in a city with so much to offer. I have relayed feedback shared with me from our students and advisers to the national center staff and would welcome everyone to do the same through the adviser survey or participant survey (intended only for registered conference attendees).

Champion Chapter is in full swing, now in Service Season with a January 7 deadline. Settings may now be adjusted to allow advisers to designate student accounts to upload activities. Remember activities may be updated as you go, rather than waiting until the actual deadline. You may also work ahead into CTE Celebration and Champion + activities if you wish. A celebration post will be shared on social media once official results from Shaping Success have been shared. The support center has several articles that may be helpful, I liked this one about account privileges.

Fall is a great time to lock in on entering members in connect and competitive event preparation. Remember our December 1 affiliation deadline, no action is required to affiliate if your chapter was active and in good standing with all invoices from 2025-2026 paid, having at least one member entered in connect with their member dues invoice paid in full satisfies all requirements from the Kentucky Department of Education. The national office does expect at least 3 members for middle level chapters and 5 members for high school chapters by March to maintain active status. Reactivation may be needed if your chapter has fallen into inactive status but is a super quick process and I’ll be happy to assist. Our paid members have access to FBLA Connect where they may complete Business Achievement Awards, log accomplishments and community service hours, view sample prompts for role play events and sample tests for objective tests. The sooner they have access the more prepared they may become. Schools have reported success finding preparation materials online, through MBA research and by creating their own with ai tools by entering event specific competencies to generate sample tests.

Expect information in December from your region presidents or region chairs to detail region conference information, I will send information for middle school state at the same time (middle schools, please do not forget about your Pre-SLC opportunities (registration is due November 20) and that we have no region specific activities for middle level, due to the size of the division everyone automatically advances to state). February 1 will be our deadline for all high school regional conferences and the middle school state conference. State information will be sent after the February 1 deadline to avoid confusion when registering. If you have students interested in running for region or state offices, please remind them that no campaigning may occur they are an approved candidate with opening session at their conference behind them.

That’s all for now! Wishing you all the very best week! Please reach out if I may be of any assistance to you or your chapters!

Sheena Searcy, NBCT

Education Program Consultant/FBLA State Adviser

Division of Student Transition and Career Readiness, Student Leadership Branch

Office of Career and Technical Education