JMS students fare well at conference

Students at Jemtegaard Middle School in Washougal garnered several awards at the Future Business Leaders of America 2013 Winter Business Leadership Conference recently.

It is the only middle school chapter in the region, so the wins came against high school competitors.

According to JMS advisor Susan Nesmith, the mission of the FBLA is to bring business and education together in a positive working relationship through innovative leadership and career development programs and prepare students for careers in business and business-related fields.

“This is the fourth year of FBLA at JMS and we have placed in regionals every year,” Nesmith said. “I am so proud of my kids. They worked really hard to compete against high schools students.”

Eleven of the 13 JMS members earned the opportunity to compete at the recent regional conference held at Kalama High School. Team members include seventh-graders Rhianna Brown, Ryenn Soule and Kyel Fisher; eighth-graders Janis Trent, president; Sayre Glaser, secretary; Matthew Hickey, treasurer; Kayla Donahue, reporter/historian; and Tanner Byington, Rory Csanky and Maralee Dakolios.

Hickey placed high in two written test events, taking first-place in Introduction to Technology Concepts and second in Technology Concepts.

Glaser brought home first-place honors for the FBLA Principles and Procedure written test event.

“It is very nerve wracking, but when it is done you have a good feeling when you see your score and you’ve done well,” she said.

Glaser, along with Dakolios, also grabbed third-place in Emerging Business Issues which is a team speaking event. All competitors come prepared with two four-minute presentations, one for and one against a specific business issue.

After a toss of a coin, the team must argue one side of the topic.

CREED is an individual speaking event. Each competitor has to memorize the FBLA creed. Then they must recite it to the judges who then ask questions of each competitor.

This is the impromptu part of the competition. Brown took second-place and Donahue earned fifth-place.

Parliamentary Procedure is a team written test and demonstration, and JMS sent two teams. Earning fourth-place were Csanky, Hickey, Byington, Soule and Brown. Coming in fifth-place were Trent, Fisher, Donahue, Glaser and Dakolis.

Washougal High School also had winners at the competition in several subject area. Bekah Luthi earned several top finishes with first-place in Business Calculations and Hospitality.

She also earned second-place in Business Procedures and fifth-place in Personal Finance.

Josh Banks and Sean Guthrie took third-place in Banking and Financial. Michelle Greear and Allix Fisher earned fifth-place in the event.

Adam Krout took third-place in Business Law and fourth-place in Business Math; while the team of Tiffany Brock and Austin Thompson earned fourth-place in Marketing. Guthrie took fourth-place in Business Calculations.