FBLA competes at the State Leadership Conference

The Washington State FBLA Leadership Conference was held in Seattle, April 16-19, attended by 34 students from Odessa High School. The trip began early Wednesday morning with a stop in Ellensburg to tour Central Washington University, followed by a stop at the University of Washington in Seattle, where former Odessa graduates Hailey Williams and Cade Weber gave the OHS students a personal tour. The next stop was a visit to the Woodland Park Zoo in the pouring rain.

The FBLA conference began Thursday morning with motivational speaker John Beede sharing his experience climbing Mount Everest. With one of the best messages we had ever heard, our chapter was fired up and ready to compete in 24 different events. Students competed all day Thursday and Friday against some very tough competition.

On Saturday morning, the Awards of Excellence ceremony began. Odessa students were ecstatic when many of their names were called to the stage for awards. From Odessa, 20 students qualified to attend the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tenn. this June.

A group of hard-working freshmen came home with a first-place finish for their American Enterprise Project entitled, Entpreneur, Past, Present and Future. Zoe Clark, Brad Johnston, Molly Schafer and Rebecca Fortner wrote a 15-page report and gave an outstanding presentation to win the award.

Trevor King, Chelsea Fisher and Carsen Weber placed first with their Business Financial Plan. Given the scenario that they were applying for a business loan to open a custom apparel and merchandise business, the students interviewed two Spokane business owners and wrote a 15-page business plan describing their need for the loan, how they would acquire it, and how they would pay it back. Students then gave a presentation and received perfect scores from both judges.

Each year the Odessa chapter summarizes its activities in a 30-page Local Chapter Annual Business Report. Writing the report and placing first were Carley Williams, Hannah Schmidt and Nathyn Winslow. This report is also used as the criterion for determining the Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit, which the Odessa chapter also received.

Stacia Lesser, Steven Braun, Alexis Burdick, Chance Messer and AnnaRenee Bockman placed first with their Partnership with Business Project. Their project involved working with the AgriBusiness Council of Greater Spokane to host a session for teens at AgExpo, writing a 15-page report and giving a seven-minute presentation.

Working with Chris Shafer of the BLM, the chapter spent hours improving the Craters Loop Trail for our its Community Service Project. Jenna Shafer, Katie DeWulf, Elizabeth Larsen, Dakota Largent and Tyler Paris wrote the 15-page report and presented their project to receive a second place award.

"The impact of the Affordable Care Act" on small businesses was the topic Business Presentation. Two teams made a presentation and once again the freshmen group of Elizabeth Larson, Brad Johnston and Zoe Clark surprised us all by competing against 40 teams and placing fifth in this very difficult competition. The team of Fee Pilger, Jenna Shafer and John DeWulf also competed in the event.

Molly Schafer placed fifth by reciting the FBLA Creed. Rebecca Fortner and Laura Kinney also competed in this event.

The Public Service Announcement team of Shelbey Watkins, Aaron Gies and Brad Johnston, created a 30-second PSA on exercising and eating right. They were thrilled to make it to the finals but unfortunately did not place.

Other competitors included Kim Nelson and Daviane Minaker in Business Plan; Wyatt Haase, Shelby Watkins and John DeWulf in Digital Video Production; Carley Williams, Steven Braun and Katie DeWulf in Business Ethics; Team 1: Chelsea Fisher, Carley Williams and Hannah Schmidt and Team 2: Daviane Minaker, Dakota Largent and Tyler Paris in Emerging Business Issues; Chelsea Fisher in Job Interview and Public Speaking II; Chance Messer in Word Processing; Elizabeth Larson, Morgan Marshand and Jenna Shafer in Desktop Publishing; Nik Evans, Tanner Estep and Parker Valverde in Electronic Career Portfolio; Griffey Powell in Computer Programming; Team 1 Graphic Design: Parker Valverde and Johnathon Brightwell and Team 2: AnnaRenee Bockman and Laura Kinney in Graphic Design; and Stacia Lesser in FBLA Principles and Procedures.

Preparations for the state FBLA competition are a year in the making. Students and their parents began fundraising last fall at Deutsches Fest and didn't quit until the Stumpjumpers' Desert 100 event. All students paid for their own conference registration fee of $318. Most students spend months preparing their projects and speeches for competition.

Our chapter owes much of their success to hard work and great parental support. Success would not come to so many without our amazing speech coaches and proofreaders Jeanie Read, Kelly Weber and Patty Williams. Besides listening to hours and hours of presentation rehearsals, they fed, ironed, escorted, and looked out for the needs of all 34 students. We truly appreciate the support from the administration and staff who encourage the students in numerous ways.