FBLA brings home awards

RITZVILLE - Twenty-eight members of the Lind-Ritzville Future Business Leaders of America team traveled to Spokane Valley for the winter regional conference earlier this month and returned with 25 trophies.

The conference was attended by 13 schools and 433 students.

Adviser Steve Greenwalt said he was pleased with the effort he saw from his students.

"Students have worked really hard on these events and have prepared very well for them," Greenwalt said.

Students who finished in the top six of each event qualify for the state competition this April in Spokane.

LRS walked away with three individual first-place finishes. Grace Greenwalt took first in Sale Presentation, Ellie Gering won in Business Calculations and Spencer Gering took first in Securities and Investments.

The Broncos also won three group competitions. Grace Greenwalt, Myra Miller and Mercedes Miller won in Web Design; Spencer Gering, Ellie Gering and Brinley Moore won in Banking and Financial and Dakota Killian, Linnea Schafer and Sydney Kinch won in Public Service Announcement.

LRS students and groups also finished in the top-six in 19 other competitions. A complete list of students qualifying for state will be posted on The Journal's website.

"I was really impressed with our whole chapter and how we competed," chapter President Spencer Gering said. "It's the best we've done in years."

An FBLA team was re-formed in the area four years ago when Steve Greenwalt came to LRHS. He only had 12 students that year. The program has grown over the past four years to 33 members.

Several students told The Journal that the program---and the competitions--- have been very valuable to them.

"This is my first year doing FBLA, even though I'm a senior," said Eliza Galbreath, who finished No. 2 in Emerging Business Issues along with Linnea Schafer. "I like the organization because it teaches leadership and it gets everyone involved."

Dakota Killian says the program lines up well with her career goals.

"I want to go into the business life," Killian said. "Being in a rural community like Ritzville, where everything is agriculture based, it's nice to be able to compete in these business competitions."

The students now head to the State Business Leadership Conference April 8-11 in Spokane.