On Wednesday, April 24th, the Touchet FBLA team traveled to Spokane, Washington to participate in the State FBLA competition. The team had amazing success as 8 out of 10 students won top prizes that qualified them to advance to the National FBLA convention in Orlando, Florida.
These FBLA members are considered the best and brightest, and the convention provides them with a competitive edge as they compete in leadership events, share their successes and learn new ideas about shaping their careers through workshops and exhibits. The four-day conference is considered the pinnacle of the FBLA experience, especially for those who are running for national office.
The team, pictured above from left to right, includes Emma Niemeyer (8th grade), Maddie Short (8th grade), Darla Dial (7th grade), Shaylee Butler (7th grade), Holly Kolb (7th grade), Piper Carlisle (7th grade), Kinley Crenshaw (7th grade), Owen Godinez (11th grade), Cooper Pumphrey (8th grade), and Morgan Gates (7th grade).
Mrs. Nicole Short and Mrs. Dusti Crenshaw, the FBLA advisors, made this achievement possible for their dedicated students.
The Critical Thinking team consisting of Cooper Pumphrey, Emma Neimeyer, and Maddie Short, placed 3rd overall, and will be competing in Critical Thinking at the National Competition. Additionally, Maddie Short placed 2nd in Elevator speech, 8th in running an effective meeting and 10th in leadership. Cooper Pumphrey placed 6th in the FBLA mission pledge, and Emma Niemeyer placed 4th in the FBLA mission pledge, 6th in running an effective meeting and 9th in learning strategies.
Kinley Crenshaw placed 3rd in Multimedia website development and 6th in FBLA concepts. She will be competing in Multimedia website development at the National Competition.
Shaylee Butler, Darla Dial, and Piper Carlisle all placed 2nd in Business Ethics, and both Piper and Darla will be competing at the National level in Business Ethics. Darla Dial also placed 9th in Exploring Economics, and 6th in Interpersonal Communications while Piper Carlisle placed 10th in Exploring Economics.
Holly Kolb placed 4th in Career Research, and 8th in Financial Literacy and will be competing in Career Research at Nationals.
The FBLA National Competition is scheduled to take place in Orlando, Florida from June 28th to July 2nd. However, the cost of attending this prestigious competition is quite high, approximately $3000 per student, which makes it challenging for everyone to participate. Therefore, students are responsible for covering the costs the FBLA team is not able to fund.
Although the FBLA team engages in year-round fundraising activities, the majority of the funds are allocated to competing in regional and state competitions. Some of the fundraising activities include delivering ice at the Walla Walla fair, selling Dilly Bars at sports events, offering See's Candies during Christmas, operating the concession stand, and selling Krispy Kreme donuts. Recently, the team also contributed by cleaning up after the Lions Club BBQ at the May Day celebration.
Due to the quick turnaround between the state and national conventions, the FBLA team is working diligently to raise the necessary funds. Their fundraising goal is $21,000, and so far, they have successfully raised $4,000.
If you would like to support the Touchet FBLA Chapter, please send your donation to:
Touchet FBLA
C/O Nicole Short
PO Box 135
Touchet Wa 99360
For more information about the Touchet FBLA chapter, please contact Nicole Short (nshort@touchetsd.org), or Dusti Crenshaw (dcrenshaw@touchetsd.org)