Students place at FBLA nationals

Wed., July 19, 2017

Central Valley team members are: front row, from left, Cy DeReu, Nick Rogers, Amanda Lance and Angela Hoene; rear row, Javion Joyner, Ben Kiehn, Nathan Johnson, Gavin Ostheimer, Yuxuan Bai, Shawn Barnett and Kyle Thiede. (Central Valley High School / Courtesy photo)

From staff reports

Several students from Central Valley, East Valley and Freeman high schools placed in the top 10 in their categories at the 2017 National Future Business Leaders of America Leadership Conference held from June 27 to July 3 in Anaheim, California, according to a news release.

The Central Valley team of Angela Hoene, Javion Joyner and Gavin Ostheimer placed seventh in management decision making.

Freeman students Shilo Stuart and Celia Vigil also placed in the top 10. Stuart took sixth place in client service for a problem-solving solution in an unhappy customer scenario, and Vigil placed fifth in public speaking for her speech delivery about one of FBLA’s nine goals – that FBLA aims to prepare students for the real world of business. Stuart and Vigil each competed in a pool of 125 students in their categories to advance to finals where they again competed for placement, Freeman team adviser Scott Moore said.

There were over 12,000 attendees at the conference, the news release said. To compete at nationals, area students must have finished in the top six at regionals to advance to state and then placed in the top four at state which was held in April in Spokane.

The students spent a “tremendous” amount of time preparing for the conferences, Moore said.

“They paid their dues,” he said.

Other Central Valley FBLA team members that qualified and attended the conference were Cy DeReu, Nick Rogers and Kyle Thiede (marketing), Amanda Lance (journalism), Nathan Johnson (cyber security), Ben Kiehn (insurance and risk management), Yuxuan Bai (introduction to financial math) and Shawn Barnett (securities and investments).

East Valley was represented by the sophomore team of Josh Strebeck and Tyler Strebeck, who made their debut at nationals with network design.

For Freeman the team of juniors Stuart, Nathan Longhurst and Marley Pratt, in their second trip to nationals, competed in community service project. Longhurst also competed in business communications and Pratt in website design.

“FBLA provides a great learning opportunity for our students,” Moore said in the news release. “FBLA promotes competitive spirit as it teaches students about the essential components of business.”

The week wasn’t all work. The students, along with advisers Duane Barnhart of Central Valley, Bret Kiefer of East Valley and Scott and Lisa Moore of Freeman, visited some of Anaheim’s landmarks, including Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Medieval Times, Huntington Beach, and watched the Seattle Mariners defeat the California Angels in a Major League Baseball game, the news release said.

FBLA is the premier organization for students preparing for careers in business, the news release said. The mission of FBLA is to bring business and education together through innovative leadership and career development programs. Members hope to gain the competitive edge for college and career successes by attending conferences and competing in various areas in business.