Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Competition
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Click on photo for closer view.

CAPTION: FBLA members representing Grand River Technical School included: Front row: Corie Donoho, Jacob Caughron, Jacob Peterson, Chelsea Sturguess, Drew Hinton, Steven Taylor, and Annie Steely. Second row: John Marlett, Hannah Morgan, Travis Henry, Brandon Fuhrmann, Kelsey Hinton, Samantha Fender, Cari Stockard, and Justin Littrell. Third row: Zach Colvin, Daniel Riekena, Ben Griffin, and Parker Leatherman. Not pictured: Wade Koehly and Mason Munson.

More than 2,700 Missouri high school students and teachers assembled in Columbia on April 19-21 for the 50th Annual Future Business Leaders of America State Leadership Conference. Twenty-one students from Grand River Technical School attended the conference.

The conference theme was “Missouri FBLA: Get the Edge!” and featured more than 40 business-related events for students to test their skills in statewide competition. Missouri FBLA now has 15,340 student members in 428 chapters in high schools across the state. For the fourth consecutive year, Missouri has earned an award for being the second-largest state chapter in the nation.

Award winners from Grand River Technical School included:

• Chelsea Sturguess - Outstanding Service in Local Chapter award, 1st place in Electronic Career Portfolio;
• Jacob Caughron (pictured at right) - 1st place in Business Plan project, 1st place in Who’s Who in Missouri FBLA (first GRTS student to be awarded this honor), as well as the $500 Joanne Newcomer Scholarship;
• Cari Stockard - 4th place in Business Communication, 6th place in Personal Finance;
• John Marlett - 6th place in Technology Concepts

Team events included a 7th place finish in E-Business by John Marlett, Steven Taylor, and Wade Koehly; 2nd place for the Community Service Project by Chelsea Sturguess and Drew Hinton; 3rd place in the Partnership with Business Report created by Hannah Morgan, Ben Griffin, and Corie Donoho; and 4th place for Steven Taylor, Justin Littrell, and Wade Koehly in Business Financial Plan.

Jacob Peterson, Drew Hinton, Chelsea Sturguess, and Jacob Caughron received Business Achievement Award recognition for their leadership contributions to FBLA. Jacob Caughron also received $500 from the Joanne Newcomer Scholarship.

Students who placed first or second place at the State Leadership Conference will compete at the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, June 25-28. Competing from Grand River Technical School at the national conference will be Jacob Caughron (Business Plan, Who’s Who), Chelsea Sturguess (Electronic Career Portfolio, Community Service Project), and Drew Hinton (Community Service Project).

Other FBLA members competing at the State Level included Travis Henry, Parker Leatherman, Mason Munson, Taylor Lyon, Kelsey Hinton, Brandon Fuhrmann, Zach Colvin, Daniel Riekena, Annie Steely, and Sam Fender. Advisers accompanying the students were Jenny Hughes, Susan Mayers, and Sondra Sturguess.

CAPTION: Seniors Jacob Caughron, Chelsea Sturguess, Drew Hinton, and Jacob Peterson completed all four levels of the Business Achievement Awards through leadership activities during their high school FBLA experience. These students will be attending the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California, to receive the “America” award.

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