The Touchet FBLA team, consisting of 7 middle school students from Touchet School District, competed amongst 16,000 of the nation's top students at the National Convention in Orlando, Florida from June 28th to July 3rd.
These seven students earned their spots to Orlando by placing in the top 4 of their respective competitive events at the state convention in Spokane, Washington in April of this year.
The team pictured from left to right above consists of Cooper Pumphrey (8th grade), Darla Dial (7th Grade), Piper Carlisle (7th Grade), Holly Kolb (7th Grade), Maddie Short (8th Grade), Kinley Crenshaw (7th grade), and Emma Niemeyer (8th Grade). The team is led by advisors Nicole Short and Dusti Crenshaw. The advisors invite students to join the club at the beginning of the school year and explain what being a part of the FBLA team means. They have year-round meetings to work on their events and establish fundraising efforts to make it to the State, Regional, and hopefully the National competition.
The eager FBLA team arrived at the Orlando Convention Center, dressed for success in their business attire, ready to check in for their competitive events. The team first spent time wondering through the Future Leaders Expo Hall, meeting and greeting industry leaders in technology and prospect colleges promoting their offerings to community minded business leaders. They then spent the rest of their morning supporting each other, honing their skills, and perfecting their speeches for their competitions.
Each of the seven students excelled, despite this being their first major stage experience. Notably, Holly Kolb received a call back as a finalist in her competition category, career research. Holly Placed 4th at the state competition after presenting her slideshow on career research on architecture.
After reading the judge's feedback, Holly finalized her presentation for the national competition by interviewing a local architect to help her with some missing puzzle pieces for her presentation. She spent countless hours practicing her presentation leading up to her performance in Orlando. The extra work and due diligence to her topic paid off as she was awarded as one of the top in the nation in her category!
Holly placed 8th in the nation for career research and received her well-earned award on the big stage in front of all FBLA students from all over the Nation, including Canada, China, and even the Virgin Islands! Holly was one of only two kids from Southeast Washington to place at Nationals and the only middle school student!
While in Orlando the team had the exciting opportunity to take a break from competition and visit some of the fun touristy destinations Orlando has to offer, including Disneyworld’s Magic Kingdom, and FBLA night at Universal Studios, where the park was open an extra two hours just for FBLA students!
As the closing ceremonies approached, the team gathered to reminisce about their journey and celebrate their remarkable accomplishments. The memories will last a lifetime, and the experiences are invaluable. The team would like to thank all the sponsors who donated to help make this trip possible. They would also like to thank Mrs. Dusti Crenshaw and Mrs. Nicole Short for their time spent planning and preparing for this trip, and the families and chaperones that helped make this trip happen!
Congratulations Touchet FBLA team! Way to represent Touchet School District and the make our Community Proud!