Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!

16 qualify for National Leadership Conference

The Odessa High School chapter of FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) came home with 10 awards from the 2012 State Leadership Conference held in Seattle, April 11-14. After spending many long nights in the computer lab and hours of practicing, Odessa had one of its most successful conferences ever.

Wednesday morning, April 11, 36 OHS students began the trip, arriving in Seattle in the pouring rain for a tour of the University of Washington campus. The tour showed off many interesting buildings, and the students learned a lot about the university. Former FBLA members and students at the UW Mariah Davison and Scott Strang paid a surprise visit to the group.

The group stopped next at the Woodland Park Zoo, where students made the most of the very wet day by seeing many of the exhibits. While at the zoo, the group was privileged to meet with a zoo manager to learn more about the business of zoo operations.

The FBLA conference began Thursday morning with keynote speaker Russ Peak, a magician who managed to incorporate many important life lessons into his magic show.

Students then began their individual and group competitions in 25 different events, competing all day Thursday and Friday. Many students took advantage of the workshops offered.

Several went on a tour of Safeco Field, home field to the Seattle Mariners professional baseball team, and others enjoyed downtown Seattle’s Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. Shopping was also enjoyed by many.

Karaoke and a dance with 1,806 FBLA members crammed into the hotel ballroom were the evening highlights. The students had a great time, thanks to the very dedicated chaperones, Kelly Weber, Heidi Moffet and Jeanie Read, who barely slept and only saw downtown Seattle through their hotel room windows.

Making it through the preliminary rounds and competing in the finals were: Charli Moffet in Public Speaking II, Jared King in Job Interview, Kira Powell in Impromptu Speaking and Future Business Leader, Kendall Todd and Charli Moffet in Business Presentation.

Also presenting but not receiving awards were the Business Plan team of Rebekah Marshall, Austin Schmierer and Kaitlin Estep; two Emerging Business Issues teams, Hailey Williams, Austin Schmierer and Kira Powell, and the second team of Thorsen Wehr, Jared King and Koralynne Kuch; the Graphics Design team of Dakota Largent and Tyler Paris; the Digital Design and Promotion team of Austin Schmierer and Kira Powell; Katelyn Worley in the Creed competition, the Digital Video Production team of Ashley Smith, JR Worrrell and Seth Rollins; the FBLA Principles and Procedures test was taken by Anna Anderson and Kim Nelson; the Web Site Design team of Zack Schaal, Steven Braun and Sam Schafer; and Word Processing I computer test taken by Thorsen Wehr.

The Awards of Excellence ceremony was held Saturday morning. Odessa students were thrilled when many of them were called to the stage for awards. In June, 18 students from Odessa (16 qualifiers and two alternates) will be traveling to San Antonio, Texas to compete at the FBLA National Leadership Conference.

 

Reader Comments(0)